CURATORIAL PRACTICE: CURATOR AND PRODUCER
Multiple and One: Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo
Solo Exhibition
UrbanGlass
February 1 - March 31 2023
"Multiple and One" is a solo show of artwork by queer-identified Cuban-American artist Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo, who explores stained glass and glass mosaics through his practice. The exhibition centers on the Club EXILE project and installation, initially a response to the 2016 shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL, whose victims were primarily queer, Latino/as. The installation features mirror mosaics, neon lights, found objects, and architectural fragments that lead to a memorial altar for the Pulse victims, created through participatory workshops. In this work, mirror mosaics reference the disco ball and the dance floor, often articulated as a sacred space for the queer community. Duncan-Portuondo’s work explores home and exile as sites for community building across identities. As the project evolved, Club EXILE became a way of thinking through exile as a space that connects multiple identities of marginalized peoples. Additional artwork in the exhibition features Duncan-Portuondo’s experimental work that maps stained glass onto the body and early artworks that use the altar-form.
"Multiple and One” is part of the "Forever Becoming" trilogy of shows at UrbanGlass (2023).
–Alpesh Kantilal Patel
Photos by Blaine Davis
Public Programming
January 27, 2023 @ Club EXILE: Disco Mosaic Workshop
The public is invited to create a mosaic altar in memory of the Pulse Nightclub shooting victims as part of the ongoing Club EXILE project. Through this workshop, participants will learn the basics of glass cutting and mosaic making while building a platform to hold photographs of the Pulse Victims. We will be working with mirror as our basic material to create mosaics that reference the disco ball and dance floor as a site of community-building. Music, snacks, and drinks set the mood for this club inspired workshop, so feel free to come dressed to dance while you mosaic. The evening will conclude with drag performances inspired by exile and organized by artist and performer, Zac Thompson. The finished altar will be presented during the February 1 opening of MULTIPLE AND ONE, an exhibition of work by Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo. The public is invited to bring any objects they would like to contribute to the memorial objects on the altar during either the workshop or the opening. Visitors to the show opening will be invited to place an electric candle on the altar and illuminate this memorial to the lives lost at Pulse in 2016 and Club Q in 2022.
March 2, 2023 @ 6pm In Conversation: Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo, Cassils and Erika Diamond
In this virtual conversation, Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo will discuss his altar connected to the Orlando, Florida Pulse nightclub murders that is a centerpiece of this solo exhibition and partially built from the DISCOmosaics made by the public. He will be in conversation with artists Cassils and Erika Diamond, who will discuss their artworks 103 Shots (video, 2016) and Imminent Peril - The Queer Collection (textiles, 2018-present), respectively. An emphasis will be a discussion of trans and queer “life” and “joy,” both often obscured in conversations around death. The virtual panel will be moderated by exhibition curator Alpesh Kantilal Patel.
Artist Bios:
Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo is a Miami based artist. He has exhibited artwork and created public projects in South Florida, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Latin America. He frequently collaborates with artists, architects, dancers, musicians and community partners. He holds a BA in Studio Art and Latin American Studies from Swarthmore College, a BFA in Painting and Art History from New World School of the Arts, and an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Cassils is a transgender artist who makes their own body the material and protagonist of their performances. Their art contemplates the history(s) of LGBTQI+ violence, representation, struggle and survival, empowerment and systems of care. They have had recent solo exhibitions at HOME Manchester, Station Museum of Contemporary Art and Perth Institute for Contemporary Arts and are the recipient of a Fleck Residency from the Banff Center for the Arts, a Villa Bellagio Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Creative Capital Award. They have received the inaugural ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art, MOTHA (Museum of Transgender History) award, among others. Their work has been featured in the New York Times, Artforum, Hyperallergic, TDR, Art Journal and many other publications. Their monograph Solutions accompanying the eponymously titled exhibition was published by the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, TX (2020).
Erika Diamond is a textile-focused artist, curator, and educator. She holds degrees from Rhode Island School of Design and Virginia Commonwealth University. She has exhibited nationally and abroad in such venues as Kent State University Museum, Dinner Gallery, Form & Concept Gallery, and Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work is included in the collections of San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and Ally Bank. Residencies and Grants include: McColl Center, Platte Forum, UNCA STEAM Studio; VCU Arts; and Arts & Science Council of NC. Diamond is Assistant Director of Galleries at Chautauqua Institution.
March 30, 2023, 6:30-8pm Walk & Talk with Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo & Angelica Arbelaez
Walk through our current exhibition with the added benefit of hearing from the artist himself in conversation with Angelica Arbelaez. Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo will have a conversation with Whitney Museum of American Art’s Rubio Butterfield Family Fellow Angelica Arbelaez about salient themes in his solo exhibition. Join in with the conversation and ask both participants about their thoughts on the work in addition to sharing your experiences with the work.