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Immigrant Artists/American Experience 

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Naul Ojeda

Focusing on the years since 1960, Immigrant Artists/American Experience addresses an important yet neglected subject: the impact upon modern American art of the numerous artists who have settled in this country from other nations, as well as the effect that the American experience has had on those artists. Some address issues such as identity, context and personal displacement. For example, Juan Gonzalez, who left Cuba to settle in Miami, displays in his work a search for identity in a foreign space. Sonia Balassanian invokes the theme of the hostage to express her sense of the identity in relation both to her native Iran and her adopted homeland, the United States.

The work of other artists demonstrated ways in which immigrants have enriched existing artistic traditions in this country. For example, the many practitioners of video art today are indebted to the precedents set by Nam June Paik, the first artist to explore the aesthetic possibilities of television. Alan Kirili has enriched the tradition of totemic bronze sculpture, and Christo has made an important, highly personal contribution to environmental and site-specific art with his "wrapped" pieces.

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Alain Kirili

Organized in conjunction with the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia, Immigrant Artists/American Experience includes approximately 50 works by 29 artists, those mentioned above, and Siah Atmajani, Armin, Zigi Ben-Haim, Skunder Boghossian, Derek Boshier, Lito Cavalcante, Dina Dar, Douglas Davis, Rimma Gerlovina, H. N. Han, Patrick Ireland, Komar and Melamid, Ewa Kuryluk, Joshua Neustein, Naul Ojeda, Lucio Pozzi, Guillermo Pulido, Jochen Seidel, John Stockdale, Athen Tacha, Masami Teraoke, Cesar Trasobares, Mindy Weisel and Yuriko Yamaguchi.

Guest curator: Cynthia Jaffee McCabe
Exhibition fee: $8,000 plus incoming shipping
Running feet: 200
Tour dates: august 1985-December 1986