Converging Trajectories: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges (Curator, Producer)
Modified Arts, Phoenix, Arizona USA
August 20 – September 11, 2010

Converging Trajectories: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges is an invitational group exhibition of works by 42 artists I have encountered during the past three years. Most of the artists are from Brazil and Arizona with others from Buenos Aires, Charlotte, Chicago, Mexico City, New York, and San Francisco.

Three years ago, after decades of working in business and in art museums, I started my own company, propelling myself on a new trajectory. The artists in the exhibition are some of the many wonderful, vital, and intelligent people I have encountered during this period of personal reinvention and growth largely through travel and research. They are on their own paths/trajectories, and through me, there is an intersection. With their participation in this exhibit, the artists become connected with one another and with viewers from the Phoenix area and elsewhere who visit Modified Arts during the exhibition. Of the 42 artists in the exhibition, 21 are currently based in Brazil making this the largest exhibit of contemporary art from Brazil ever shown in Phoenix and the Southwestern United States.

The world continues to shrink rapidly with the development and use of technology, social networks, and travel. More than ever before, we are able to recognize that the people of Earth strive for the similar things in life and share dreams for the future. Unbelievably, it is still easier for art to cross lines drawn on maps than the actual artist who made the work. This is especially true for artists living in the Americas south of us. Artists made the works in this exhibition in response to personal, social, political, and economic issues of the human condition, thereby blurring mapped nationalistic and cultural boundaries. This art and the exhibition concept are more relevant than ever in Arizona and in the context of globalization and human rights and dignity. The artworks are as diverse in content as in the origins and experiences of the people who made them. A major goal for this exhibit is to provide Arizona viewers with fresh and vital art for multi- faceted viewing, interpretation, and enjoyment during seemingly endless, hot summer days and vituperative political and social debates. Another is to provide opportunities for the artists to see their work in a broader context and different arena than they may have previously.

I am assembling the art, bringing it to Phoenix, and providing opportunities for people to connect with art and artists, many of whom are showing their work in the United States for the first time. Information about the exhibition is being broadcast from Phoenix to people around the world through the use of technology, thereby making it possible for us to be interconnected across political, language, and cultural borders. Building bridges through lively discussions of themes relating to art and culture, rather than politics and religion, allows us to establish common ground for understanding others and improving the human condition. In a small and personal way, Converging Trajectories: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges promotes interconnection and understanding between people while abating fear of the other or the unknown.


Artists in the exhibition:

Bianca Tomaselli (Niterói, Brazil) Carlos Contente (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Chico Fernandes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Christy Puetz (Phoenix, AZ) Edgar Aguilar (Mexico City, Mexico) Elizabeth Amento (San Francisco, CA) Estevan Curiel (Phoenix, AZ) Gabriela Mureb (Niterói, Brazil) Hugo Houayek (Niterói, Brazil) Joe Jankovsky (Phoenix, AZ) Leo Ayres (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Marco Turrubiartes (Phoenix, AZ) Marcos Chaves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) M. Jenea Sanchez (Douglas, AZ) Monica Aissa Martinez (Phoenix, AZ) Rafael Alonso (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Ricardo Villa (São Paulo, Brazil) Rodrigo Torres (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Sergio Allevato (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Sharon Dowell (Charlotte, NC) Verónica Villanueva (Scottsdale, AZ)

Bruno Vieira (Recife, Brazil) Carolina Ponte (Petrópolis, Brazil) Christian Curiel (Brooklyn, NY) Danielle Carcav (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Eduardo Verderame (São Paulo, Brazil) Elvis Almeida (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Felipe Baenninger (São Paulo, Brazil) Gustavo Artigas (Mexico City, Mexico) Jen Urso (Phoenix, AZ) Jozias Benedicto (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Marco Rountree Cruz (Mexico City, Mexico) Marcone Moreira (Marabá, Brazil) Mary Porterfield (Chicago, IL) Michael David Little (Phoenix, AZ) Pedro Varela (Petrópolis, Brazil) Rafael Navarro (Phoenix, AZ) Robert Brandan Martinez (Tempe, AZ) Sam Chung (Tempe, AZ) Sergio Torres (Niterói, Brazil) Sigismond de Vajay (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Walmor Corrêa (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

This exhibition is made possible by support from Kim Larkin and Adam Murray/Modified Arts and Ted Decker Catalyst Fund.* In-kind support was provided by Chico Fernandes (Rio de Janeiro), Bill Fielder/Bill’s Custom Frames, Joe Jankovsky, Lisa MacCollum/Lisa Mac Studio, Paul Jacques, and to Verónica Villanueva and Brent Bond.

Special thanks to each of the participating artists, Justin P. Germain, those who made the journey to Phoenix for the opening, Valber Silva, (Niterói, Brazil), and to the following galleries for their support: in Recife, Galeria Mariana Moura; in Rio de Janeiro, A Gentil Carioca, Amarelonegro Arte Contemporânea, Anita Schwartz Galeria de Arte, Galeria Artur Fidalgo, and Laura Marsiaj Arte Contemporânea; and in São Paulo, Novembro Arte Contemporânea and Zipper Galeria.