Artists at Work: Manuel Aja Espil with Alejandro de la Guerra hosted by Culture Pass

About

For this Artists at Work, Manuel Aja Espil, ISCP’s current resident from Argentina, will be in conversation with Alejandro de la Guerra, an artist and organizer from Nicaragua, at the Bushwick Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. At the center of their dialog will be discussion of Espil’s work in the context of Latin American art aesthetics. Both artists use imagery from art history and popular culture to tell stories about societal inequalities and political struggles. Playing with collective memory and coded imagery, they express a mix of humor and excitement with tragedy and dissent. 

This is a bilingual program, and will take place in both English and Spanish.

Manuel Aja Espil was born in 1987 in Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied filmmaking at Facultad Universidad del Cine and then painting, through courses, artists’ workshops, and on his own. He was at the 2016 edition of the Artist’s Program of Torcuato Di Tella University and was a resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 2019. Manuel has exhibited in museums including the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (Terapia, 2020) and the Proa Foundation (Arte en Juego, 2022), Buenos Aires. His first solo exhibition was Wanda vs Azymetikah in 2012 at a small gallery venue in Buenos Aires. His most recent solo exhibitions were Anton Regularis (2017), Joseph Andreas (2018) and Los Viajes (2020), in Buenos Aires. Has taught at the Torcuato Di Tella University and his studio. Currently, he is an independent artist based in Buenos Aires.

Alejandro de la Guerra, born in Managua, Nicaragua (1986), is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the Nicaraguan School of Fine Arts and was part of the first generation of the art school EspIRA-LA ESPORA. He is also a co-founding member of Malagana-Mácula, and has participated in three Central American biennials, residencies at the Anni & Josef Albers Foundation; the Artist Protection Fund; URRA in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Câmera Sete Casa da Fotografia de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; and RAPACES in Central America. His work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at Museum of Zapopan and Chopo Museum, México City; Infinito Gallery, Buenos Aires Argentina; Vermelho Gallery, Brazil; T20 in Spain, Fuso in Portugal, Regina Rex, P.A.D. and the PINTA fair in New York, the Contemporary Art Gallery of UCONN in Storrs CT, Continental drift Arab, Romania, Real Academia de España in Roma, Italy, Sies+ Hoke Contemporary art gallery in Germany, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo in Costa Rica, Codice gallery and Museu Ortiz Guardian in Nicaragua.

This program is supported, in part, by the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation; Hartfield Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York City Council District 33; New York City Council District 34; New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature; The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; and William Talbott Hillman Foundation.