CARIDAD SOLA WEBSITE : PERFORMANCE ART

C A R I D A D ' S O L A

PERFORMANCE ART Galleries

Remove. Renew. Repeat. : Performance Duration: 4 hours
Grace Exhibition Space, Fountain Miami , Art Basel Week 2012
An exploration of the stripping away of beauty, strength, and vitality. Using wood and hair as metaphors to express the concepts of growth, removal, and re-growth.
Photos Courtesy of Amber Lee

Remove. Renew. Repeat.

Ashes to dust : Inspired by the Nursery Rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie" that has been associated with the Great Plague of 1665 of England & with earlier outbreaks of the Black Death. A rosy rash, they allege, was a symptom of the plague, and posies of herbs were carried as protection and to ward off the smell of the disease. Sneezing or coughing was a final fatal symptom, and 'all fall down' was exactly what happened. The line Ashes, Ashes in colonial versions of the rhyme is claimed to refer variously to cremation of the bodies, the burning of victims' houses, or blackening of their skin, and the theory has been adapted to be applied to other versions of the rhyme. The performance is an exploration of the act of surrendering, the giving of oneself over to something, an influence, an illness, or death. The yielding of one's power, control, and possession upon the demands of life. It explores issues of transformation, crisis of one’s identity, and completion.

Photos Courtesy of Nathaniel Parson
Performed at The Paper Box NYC for Art For Progress' Mixed Greens Event on Sept 21, 2012

4th of July Flag Performance : July 4th, 2012 Art Performance By Caridad Sola at The Paper Box NYC

In January 2006, United States Interests Section in Havana began displaying messages on a scrolling "electronic billboard" in the windows of their top floor. The Times Square-style ticker streamed news, political statements and messages in crimson letters blaming Cuba's problems on the country's communist system and socialist economy. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro ordered the parking lot in front of the U.S. Interests to be dug up and replaced with 138 black flags, each centered with a white star, obscuring the messages from the Cuban Residents. The dozens of huge black flags, which Cuba said represented more than 3,000 of its citizens killed over the years by U.S. inspired violence, effectively blocked it from view. The news ticker went dark in June 2009. Cuba later stopped flying the black flags, a step towards dismantling an in-your-face confrontation that arose around the building during the George W. Bush administration and brought always-contentious relations between the two countries to the breaking point. - ABC News Radio

Historical Background: Cuba and the U.S. have had an interest in one another since well before either of their independence movements. In Cuba, the Spanish–American War became known as "the U.S. intervention in Cuba's War of Independence”. Until Castro, the U.S. was overwhelmingly influential in Cuba. However, Castro’s Regime took power and tensions grew to a peak. Several unsuccessful attempts by the U.S to overthrow the Cuban government provoked backlash through anti-American propaganda. To their detriment, Communist Cuba has isolated its citizens from the rest of the world, and tension between the two countries has remained strong.

4th of July Flag Performance

El Paredon : “El Paredon”
Performance By: Caridad Sola, June 2012

Interactive water-gun installation where the power of creating and destroying is transferred from the artist to the audience as they are invited to shoot at her. The performance evokes the haunted final moments of Mata Hari, Gary Gilmore, and the hundreds executed at ‘El Paredon' in Cuba – to name a few. It further questions the use of weapons as toys and the human experience of participating in these games.

I asked for 6 volunteers and provided them with instructions. None of the audience or volunteer gunmen were aware of what was about to happen. The general assumption was that they were going to soak the artist in water, yet what really happened was a full-blown execution. The stunned audience gasped for air with the dramatic surprise of this bloody mess that felt all “too real” in that moment. My last words were the same as Col. Rojas, former officer of the Cuban National police who was shot to death on orders of Che Guevara, without the benefit of a trial: "There's the revolution, take care of it" and then he ordered the soldiers who were going to murder him: "Get ready, aim, fire."

Art ForProgress / Brooklyn Beat Music & Arts Festival, Performed at The Paper Box

All that glitters is not gold. : "All that glitters is not gold."

"Gold symbolizes what is purest, most excellent, most noble, most enduring, most sought after, most ideal and most valued in terms of human aspirations, human behavior and human relationships." The Art Performance "All that glitters is not gold." is an exploration of the defining goals of alchemy, the historical and symbolic significance of gold, its use in language, and the way in which it transforms items of little value into those of great value. The artist does this by transmuting the state of everyday objects into those of significant worth, as referenced in metaphors such as the golden rule, the gold standard, the golden era, and the golden hour. The transformation is followed by her own self objectification, leaving the audience with the question if people would be more valuable if dipped in gold. In the end, everything she touches, turns to gold.

Performed at The Paper Box, NY - Art For Progress "Mixed Greens: July 2012 Show

All that glitters is not gold.

Heavy Heart In Your Arms : "Heavy Heart in Your Arms." - Art Performance
In this violent-sexual twist of tug-a-war, the artist is dragged by her 20-foot long pony-tail across what appears to be a path of broken glass.
Performed at the Paper Box in Brooklyn, NY for Art For Progress 'Mixed Greens' August 2012 Event

Heavy Heart In Your Arms

Deliver Us From Eve-iL : “Deliver us from Eve-iL” performed by Caridad Sola morphs the urban legend of razor blades found in apples,
with the story of the forbidden fruit and the original sin. She does this inside the childhood game of bobbing for
apples, transforming it with a dangerous twist with her own offerings and temptation.

Performed at the Paper Box for Art for Progress
Brooklyn Beat Music & Arts Festival, June 2012

Deliver Us From Eve-iL

Looking for Mr. Right : “Looking for Mr. Right” is a performance piece in which the artist performs a several day search around a city
wearing an 80‐foot long wedding dress. During the process the dress transformed from “pure white” to
“dirty off‐white” symbolizing the filth a woman finds in her search for Mr. Right.

Looking for Mr. Right

Prince Charming : March 2012, Fountain Art Fair NY at The Armory, Art For Progress Closing Party

"You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your handsome prince." ‘Prince Charming’ is an exploration of the fantasy versus the reality of one's search for love. The artist kisses 100 frogs waiting for them to transform into her fairy tale prince. Down at their level, on her hands and knees, she finds herself in their world, yet unsuccessful and ultimately hopeless. Never noticing the one man that was there all along who was meant to be her prince (the man, sitting right beside her). Duration: 30 minutes. *The audience is invited to become part of the performance by joining her in kissing the frogs. How many frogs does she kiss before giving up? How long will the man sitting beside her wait till she notices him?

Prince Charming

The Wall Between Us : March 2012, Grace Exhibition Space, Fountain Art Fair NY at The Armory.
“Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” Living in the world of survival has us guarded, protected by a tough shell, and terrified of being vulnerable with others. ‘The Wall Between Us’ explores the human emotion of discovery, despair and defeat - of love.

Script: A couple sits face to face at a restaurant table with a wall literally between them. The setting includes a table, bottle of wine, and centerpiece that have all been divided in half by this separating wall. Through conversation, the couple attempts to get to know each other, yet this wall is preventing from seeing one and other. Throughout the date they start to chip at the wall in front of them with their utensils. As the performance progresses, they become desperate to break through, and come to the realization that they are not really with the other person. They start to use their utensils a little less for eating, and more for chipping. Eventually they begin breaching through. A hole is created and their hands touch. Finally he has a grasp on her and refuses to let go. They begin to believe they are finally with the other person and frantically continue to break thru the wall at different locations. Eventually they are able to see each other. He reaches thru, gently touches her face, and in that magical intimate moment, fear overcomes him and he walks away. In despair and defeat, she puts her head down as her hands stay hanging thru the wall without anyone to hold. He hesitates in leaving; returns back to be with her, yet ultimately decides to go on his way.

The Wall Between Us

....and they lived happily ever after : Video Stills from "... and they live happily ever after"
Art Performance & Installation, Art Basel Week Miami 2011

Performed within what appears to be a domestic setting, the artist slowly destroys everything within the dining room area she has created for this installation. The performance calls on viewers to question why uncontrollable emotions are at times released in a form of destruction.

Performed in Barrio Workshop Space

....and they lived happily ever after

Our Lady of Apparitions : Part of the 8th annual Art in Odd Places festival. October 2012
The performance explores the belief in the unbelievable through anomalous, quasi-perceptual experience of apparitions.
Interview With the Artist Available Online: http://www.artinoddplaces.org/blog/caridad-sola-our-lady-of-apparitions/

Our Lady of Apparitions

Theft of Dreams : At unexpected moments during the exhibition, a whirl‐wind of counterfeit money and confetti takes over the space and transforms your experience in a matter of seconds. This magical moment was created by the artist as a metaphor for how often too many people “sell out” on their dreams for what they think will be financial stability and wealth.

Art Basel Week Miami , Fountain Art Fair Closing Part Sponsored by Art For Progress, December 2011

Theft of Dreams

Souls of Gold : Day 1 of Public Installation.
Wall Street, Lower Manhattan.

‘Souls of Gold’ is a public art installation where the artist lays out gold foot prints along sidewalks, entrances to buildings, and street crossings. The footprints provide an opportunity for the public to engage with something that is easily taken for granted – ones path. The footprints reveal the trails of people, often in a quest for life’s treasure - happiness. They show where people choose to step and choose not to; where people gather and where they choose to stay away from. Resulting in each footprint path having its own soul.

Boot Shine Project : Performance expressing role reversal of social & economic classes. (Wall street executives shining the boots of construction workers.)
50” x 54” x 65”h
May 2008

Boot Shine Project

© 2012 Caridad Sola- All Rights Reserved

CONTACT: cari@caridadsola.com

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