Papo Colo | |
|---|---|
| Born | Francisco Colón Quintero August 12, 1946 (age 78) Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Notable work | Superman 51 (1977) Against the Current (1983) |
| Awards | The Franklin Furnace FUND for Performance Art (1987) Guggenheim Fellowship (1991) National Endowment for the Arts (1991) |
Papo Colo (b. August 12, 1946) is a Puerto Rican performance artist, painter, writer, and curator. He was born inSan Juan, Puerto Rico. He lives and works inNew York City and inEl Yunque rainforest in Puerto Rico.
At 18 he left natalPuerto Rico as amerchant marine. After returning to the island in 1971, he falsified a diploma from theUniversity of Puerto Rico as his first conceptual art piece.[1] In New York he studied under the tutelage of the poetNicanor Parra atColumbia University. His interest inpre-Columbian andLatin American cultures led him to travel across Mexico for a year. From 1973 through 1980 he lived and worked betweenNew York City andBarcelona. During these years he did a series ofperformances involving physical endurance with political undertones. He is best known forSuperman 51, which consisted of the artist running with 51 blocks tied to his back on theWest Side Highway until exhaustion. His father, Francisco Colon Garcia,[2][3] was a boxing champion and his exposure to the glorification of the body through boxing was influential to his work.
In 1982, Papo Colo with Jeanette Ingberman, foundedExit Art,[4][5] an internationally known cultural center in New York City. In 1992 he founded the Trickster Theater, an experimental multilingual and multicultural theater company.[6][7] The company served as an integral part ofExit Art's discourse and was held on the lower level of its facilities. In 2005 he wrote and directedMplay, a theater piece created solely for the web. He has won numerous awards includingThe New York Times Best Inaugural Show by an Alternative Art Space for his exhibitionExit Biennial: Reconstruction[8] Additionally,REACTIONS, an international response to 9/11 conceived by Papo Colo, was acquired byThe Library of Congress for its permanent collection[9] Jeanette Ingberman died August 24, 2011, from complications of leukemia.
Besides being the curator and cultural producer ofExit Art, Papo Colo has organized over 100 shows in which he was also the exhibition and graphic designer. His work has been exhibited at numerous venues, including The Clocktower (2013), Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco andMoMA PS1, New York (both 2009), El Museo del Barrio (2008), National Gallery of Puerto Rico (2007), Grey Art Gallery (2006), Art in General (2006), RISD Museum, Providence (2005), Barnes Foundation (2017), Band the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2001). The retrospective of his early work at MoMA PS1, which was organized byKlaus Biesenbach, coincided withThe Cleaner, a new work the artist performed in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, and culminated with the performance eventProcesión Migración that reflected on the constantPuerto Rican migration to the mainland. The artist is establishing Pangea Art Republic, a new alternative art space inEl Yunque Rainforest.[10]
In 1991 Papo Colo received aGuggenheim Fellowship, an award that is bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated distinguished accomplishment in the past and potential for future achievement.
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