Place: Pepon Osorio.Pepon Osorio, Badge of Honor, 1995. Mixed media, dimensions variable. Installation view at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, April 25-June 1, 1996. Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Photo by Dennis Cowley. About the Art Badge of Honor was first installed in a Newark storefront in 1995 and later reinstalled in a gallery setting. Powerful in its simplicity, the work consists of two rooms--a father's jail cell and a son's bedroom. The jail cell is visually stark, with only a few family photos on the walls. In comparison, the boy's room is visual overkill overkill Vox populi An excess of anything with lots of electronic equipment, gold and silver decoration, and walls covered with images of sports heroes, baseball cards, posters, and family photos. It explodes with Latin-American aesthetic carried to the extreme. The work is really about the separation of parent and child, an issue facing many urban families. Real-life, videotaped conversations between an imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- father and his son at home are projected on video screens in each room. The installation becomes a set where a real-life drama of loss and hope, honor and shame is carried out. About the Artist Now living and working in Philadelphia, Pepon Osorio was born in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. in 1955. He was educated in both Puerto Rico and New York, having moved to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. in the 1970s. After working for several years in the social services social services Noun, pl welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs social services npl → servicios mpl sociales field in the Bronx, Osorio began making art. In 1985, he received a Master's Degree master's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree. Noun 1. in Art Education from Columbia University Columbia University, mainly in New York City; founded 1754 as King's College by grant of King George II; first college in New York City, fifth oldest in the United States; one of the eight Ivy League institutions. . Most of his large-scale installations are influenced by his social work experience and his interaction with the neighborhoods and people with whom he works, both on the island and the mainland. His goal as an artist is to return art to the community. Things to Consider How might the experience of viewing Osorio's installation in a real storefront window be different from seeing it in a gallery or museum? Osorio uses real people and an actual family situation for the video segment of this installation. How then is this similar to and different from a documentary film or televised interview program? GalleryCard submitted by Art:21, Inc. as a resource for the television series, "Art for the 21st Century. The series premiered in September. For the free full-color teacher's guide to this series, e-mail request for Art:21 guide to zips@zipnsort.com or visit www.pbs.org/art21. |
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