User:Brianjanss/sandbox

Ivan Monforte (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈiβam momˈfoɾte]; born 1973) is a Mexican performance artist based in New York. His work explores the themes of "loss and mourning, representations of class, gender, race and sexuality, as well as the pursuit of love." He has produced social sculptures and performance based videos.

Background and education

Monforte was born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. He lives in New York City, New York.

He was a student at the University of California and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1996. He received a Master of Fine Arts at New York University in 2004. He also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine in 2004.

Work

Early in his career, Monforte worked freelance art jobs for galleries and museums both as an art handler and as a photographer and videographer. Monforte has show work at various museums in New York, including Bronx Museum of the Arts, El Museo del Barrio, and Queens Museum. His work often explores intersectional relationships of race and sexuality. "Monforte uses simple gestures and materials, as well as emotional language and content, as strategic tools to address themes of loss and mourning, representations of class, gender, race and sexuality, as well as the pursuit of love."

Monforte also works as a social worker. His art work and social work influence each other. Monforte has "worked in HIV prevention education, testing, and social marketing with a special focus on disenfranchised communities, such as homeless adolescents, immigrants, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth." His exhibition entitled 'There But For the Grace Of God Go I' explores HIV in the Bronx community. A year before the project was first performed, he worked at an AIDS service organization with LGBTQ teenagers in the South Bronx as a sexual health educator focusing on HIV and STI prevention education. He is a certified HIV tester, which supported his exhibition that tested participants for HIV. His project entitled 'Play Smart' trading cards in collaboration with Amos Mac, Richard Renaldi and Christopher Schulz start a dialogue for Mexican immigrants, especially those of the gay community.

There But For The Grace Of God Go I, 2007

Monforte produced this social sculpture in 2007 at the Longwood Art Gallery in Bronx, New York which provides free and confidential HIV tests. The installation took its name from a song of the same name by the disco band Machine (band). The exhibition focused on the effects of Disco on culture, as the disco era was the era of silent transmission of HIV. The Bronx has some of the poorest neighborhoods in NYC, and through no coincidence also has one of the highest rates of HIV and STD incidence. The goal of the exhibition was to start a dialogue about HIV in the Bronx. Monforte said on the project that "it often became an opportunity to talk about art, public health, activism, and AIDS, and their relationship to each other, as well as educate people about HIV prevention, testing, and treatment." Originally the project was conducted in the gallery kitchen at Longwood Art Gallery. However, during the second iteration of the projection, it was shut down by a security guard. A detailed description of the tests were forwarded to the head of public safety of the school. An anonymous committee decided the tests could not take place in a kitchen 'where food was prepared and could potentially pose a health hazard." However, rather than blood tests, oral tests were being conducted which would not pose a health risk. The project continued in a classroom.

Play Smart, 2012

Play Smart trading cards were created in collaboration using photographs by Monforte, Amos Mac, Richard Renaldi and Christopher Schulz. The cards were designed by John Chaich. The cards are meant to be freely distributed to increase information on HIV risks, testing and post-exposure prophylaxis. Monforte contributed his photographs of Mexican luchadores to focus "on positive self-worth and sexuality for undocumented Mexican immigrants."

Residencies

Sidestreet Projects, Lower East Side Print Shop, Smack Mellon, and Center for Book Arts

Awards

• UCLA Art Council Award
• Lambent Fellowship in the Arts from the Tides Foundation

External Links

• Ivan Monforte on YouTube
• Ivan Monforte on Vimeo
• Smack Mellon Artist Page