Juan Sánchez

The Unknown Boricuas + Prisoner: Abu Ghraib

February 12, 2010 – March 27, 2010

Opening Reception: Friday, February 12, 2010 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.

 Lorenzo Homar Gallery 2721 N. 5th Street Philadelphia PA, 19133

Brooklyn based, award winning artist Juan Sánchez brings, for the first time to Philadelphia, his new body of prints, The Unknown Boricuas + Prisoner: Abu Ghraib created for Taller Puertorriqueño’s 35th Anniversary exhibition season The Graphic R/Evolution and as an independent project of Philadelphia’s first international print quadrennial The Graphic Unconscious, running from January 29 – April 11, 2010. Art critic Lurie Lipman describes Sánchez as a "healer, an artist who takes elements of his culture fragmented by colonial and neocolonial powers, and works them into a restorative manner." Juan Sánchez is best known as a graphic artist whose work combines photography, and a mix of print techniques often incorporating text and iconographic images of the Taíno, African, and Spanish catholic traditions in Puerto Rico.

Sánchez’s new works are some of his deepest and most compelling images, documenting the juxtaposition between political prisoners and civil rights leaders, questioning powers of politics and religion, and bringing to light the lesser-known histories of the Puerto Rican liberalist movement. For the first time, Sánchez delivers his multilayered images completely in digital form along with selected works never before exhibited. A catalogue featuring the new series will accompany the exhibition and includes an essay by independent curator Rebeca Noriega-Costas who has worked with the Museo del Barrio and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

Lorenzo Homar Gallery is Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free