Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) has selected Priscila De Carvalho as its 2009-2010 Workspace Artist-in-Residence.  JCAL’s Workspace Program will provide Ms. Carvalho with a private studio for a period of 12 months, a minimum of $7,000 in stipends and the possibility of exhibiting her work in JCAL’s gallery at the conclusion of her residency.

“Passageways”, Site specific installation - (Installation View)

Artist Statement

Via large-scale installations, paintings and drawings, I create dynamic architectural landscapes that are inspired by the sprawling, decaying and massive uncontrolled urbanization of the shantytown communities throughout my native country Brazil. In my imagery and three-dimensional work, I create fantastic worlds in which colors, forms and elements of fantasy all meld together. My work depicts the speed of global cities and overly populated urban environments which I seek to convey by layering abstract and figurative images of winding streets, stairways, network of lights, overhead lines, intense color and infinite energy. I juxtapose my observations about the emergence and co-existence of sub-cultural communities, urban decay, consumerism and drug trafficking issues by embedding personal and found photographs that inhabit the spaces and are manipulated in a way that obscures the particular identities of the figures. Simple materials, ranging from foam and wire to shoe boxes and paint, are used to convey the urgency and energy of building community with what is at hand. In these inner cities I create, there is a sense of vastness of the communities that look out from thousands of windows everyday, while raising the question of whether the condition of poverty will also be infinite.

Priscila De Carvalho, New York, May 2008.

Press Release

Download press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

JAMAICA CENTER FOR ARTS & LEARNING

2009-2010 Workspace Artist Selected

Jamaica, New York – Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) has selected Priscila De Carvalho as its 2009-2010 Workspace Artist-in-Residence.  JCAL’s Workspace Program will provide Ms. Carvalho with a private studio for a period of 12 months, a minimum of $7,000 in stipends and the possibility of exhibiting her work in JCAL’s gallery at the conclusion of her residency.

Priscila De Carvalho creates dynamic architectural landscapes that are inspired by the sprawling, decaying and massive uncontrolled urbanization of the shantytown communities throughout her native country of Brazil. Her large-scale installations, paintings and drawings depict the speed of global cities and overly populated urban environments. In her imagery and three-dimensional work, Ms. Carvalho creates fantastic worlds in which colors, forms and elements of fantasy all meld together. She conveys this by layering abstract and figurative images of winding streets, stairways, network of lights, overhead lines, intense color and infinite energy.

 “Using simple materials, ranging from vinyl and wire to shoe boxes and paint, I convey the urgency and energy of building community with what is at hand,” said Ms. Carvalho. “In these inner-cities there is a sense of vastness of the communities that look out from thousands of windows everyday, while raising the question of whether the condition of poverty will also be infinite.”

Born in Brazil, Priscila De Carvalho immigrated to the United States in the 1990's and studied at the City College of San Francisco, the UC Berkeley and at the Art Student League in New York. She is a recipient of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and several other residencies and fellowship programs. She has been included in a number of group shows and museum solo exhibition throughout New York and New Jersey. Ms. Carvalho lives and works in Long Island City, New York.

The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning is housed in a landmark building owned by the City of New York and is funded with public funds provided through the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; the New York City Council; Council Speaker Christine Quinn; the Queens Delegation of the Council; Deputy Majority Leader, Councilman Leroy Comrie; and Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall.

JCAL’s Workspace program is supported with public funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.