SAD TROPICS
Recent Works by Cristina Molina + Jonathan Traviesa
Tempus Projects
September 15 – November 2, 2018
Opening :: 7–9PM, Friday, September 15, 2018
In addition to their site-specific installation at Tempus Projects, Molina and Traviesa will also be exhibiting at Florida Southern College’s Melvin and Burks Galleries in Lakeland, Florida from September 21st – November 2.
Tempus Projects presents works from New Orleans-based artists Cristina Molina and Jonathan Traviesa
Sad Tropics, psychological landscape of paradise, the tropics, and the mythology of Florida.
Tempus Projects is pleased to present Sad Tropics, a new iteration of an on-going collaboration by New Orleans-based artists Cristina Molina and Jonathan Traviesa from September 15th – November 2nd, 2018. As both Gulf Coast residents and Florida natives, Molina’s and Traviesa’s travels to South Florida, along rural roads and coastal routes, stimulated the concepts for Sad Tropics as a celebration and critique of the eccentricities of the Florida aspiration expressed through photo-murals, videos, and installations.
Inspired by the title of Claude Levi-Strauss’s 1955 travelogue Tristes Tropiques, Sad Tropics focuses on the psychological landscape of paradise, the tropics, and more specifically—the mythology of Florida. Florida is not quite the “feast of flowers” that Ponce de Leon and his crew described. Yet still, this marsh territory lined by beaches is where settlers young and old have historically and presently escaped to establish their own vision of utopia. Sad Tropics reflects the hyperbolic ambition embedded within Floridian culture—images of modernist geodesic architecture are mingled with tricked-out limousines, a stop-motion animation named Florida Man + Woman features top news headlines of ridiculous crimes committed by Floridians, and photo murals of lush foliage immerse viewers in the Gothic Floridian landscape.
ASSOCIATED EVENTS
Saturday September 15, 2018 7pm - 9pm - Opening Reception and Artist Talk @ 7:15pm
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Cristina Molina is a visual artist who creates video installations that include still imagery and sculptural forms. Molina’s non-linear, hypnotic works centralize female protagonists within historical, mythical, and autobiographical narratives. Molina’s artwork has been exhibited at venues such as the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Makii Masaru Gallery Tokyo, Syros International Film Festival in Greece, Contemporary Art Center New Orleans, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. She is a grantee of the National Association for Latino Arts and Culture and The Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Molina's work has been reviewed in art publications such as Burnaway and Art in America. Since 2014 Molina has been a member of the New Orleans artist-run gallery The Front where she regularly curates, exhibits her own artwork, and co-organizes The Front’s annual juried film festival. Cristina
Molina is Associate Professor of New Media + Animation at Southeastern Louisiana University where she received the 2018 University-wide President’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity.
Jonathan Traviesa is a photographer and artist living in New Orleans since the late 1990s, and has been teaching photography at Tulane University for the last five years. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and Tokyo. Traviesa is a founding member of The Front gallery and released his first book, “Portraits” with a concurrent exhibition at The Front during October and November of 2009. As part of Photonola, Traviesa received the New Orleans Photo Alliance’s inaugural Michael P. Smith Grant Award, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art exhibited a selection of his portraits from the book. His work is collected publicly at the Ogden and at The New Orleans Museum of Art and privately at the Jimmy Club, The Saratoga Collection, and The Paramount Building.
Recent Works by Cristina Molina + Jonathan Traviesa
Tempus Projects
September 15 – November 2, 2018
Opening :: 7–9PM, Friday, September 15, 2018
In addition to their site-specific installation at Tempus Projects, Molina and Traviesa will also be exhibiting at Florida Southern College’s Melvin and Burks Galleries in Lakeland, Florida from September 21st – November 2.
Tempus Projects presents works from New Orleans-based artists Cristina Molina and Jonathan Traviesa
Sad Tropics, psychological landscape of paradise, the tropics, and the mythology of Florida.
Tempus Projects is pleased to present Sad Tropics, a new iteration of an on-going collaboration by New Orleans-based artists Cristina Molina and Jonathan Traviesa from September 15th – November 2nd, 2018. As both Gulf Coast residents and Florida natives, Molina’s and Traviesa’s travels to South Florida, along rural roads and coastal routes, stimulated the concepts for Sad Tropics as a celebration and critique of the eccentricities of the Florida aspiration expressed through photo-murals, videos, and installations.
Inspired by the title of Claude Levi-Strauss’s 1955 travelogue Tristes Tropiques, Sad Tropics focuses on the psychological landscape of paradise, the tropics, and more specifically—the mythology of Florida. Florida is not quite the “feast of flowers” that Ponce de Leon and his crew described. Yet still, this marsh territory lined by beaches is where settlers young and old have historically and presently escaped to establish their own vision of utopia. Sad Tropics reflects the hyperbolic ambition embedded within Floridian culture—images of modernist geodesic architecture are mingled with tricked-out limousines, a stop-motion animation named Florida Man + Woman features top news headlines of ridiculous crimes committed by Floridians, and photo murals of lush foliage immerse viewers in the Gothic Floridian landscape.
ASSOCIATED EVENTS
Saturday September 15, 2018 7pm - 9pm - Opening Reception and Artist Talk @ 7:15pm
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Cristina Molina is a visual artist who creates video installations that include still imagery and sculptural forms. Molina’s non-linear, hypnotic works centralize female protagonists within historical, mythical, and autobiographical narratives. Molina’s artwork has been exhibited at venues such as the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Makii Masaru Gallery Tokyo, Syros International Film Festival in Greece, Contemporary Art Center New Orleans, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. She is a grantee of the National Association for Latino Arts and Culture and The Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Molina's work has been reviewed in art publications such as Burnaway and Art in America. Since 2014 Molina has been a member of the New Orleans artist-run gallery The Front where she regularly curates, exhibits her own artwork, and co-organizes The Front’s annual juried film festival. Cristina
Molina is Associate Professor of New Media + Animation at Southeastern Louisiana University where she received the 2018 University-wide President’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity.
Jonathan Traviesa is a photographer and artist living in New Orleans since the late 1990s, and has been teaching photography at Tulane University for the last five years. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and Tokyo. Traviesa is a founding member of The Front gallery and released his first book, “Portraits” with a concurrent exhibition at The Front during October and November of 2009. As part of Photonola, Traviesa received the New Orleans Photo Alliance’s inaugural Michael P. Smith Grant Award, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art exhibited a selection of his portraits from the book. His work is collected publicly at the Ogden and at The New Orleans Museum of Art and privately at the Jimmy Club, The Saratoga Collection, and The Paramount Building.
