Taller Boricua presents See What I Mean, a group exhibition featuring: Anibal Arroyo, Nicky Enright, Sandra María Esteves, Nicholas Fraser, Caridad De La Luz “La Bruja,” Soraya Marcano, Joetta Maue, Elsa María Meléndez, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, Antonio “Titanium” Montalvo, Christian “XIAN” Montalvo, Urayoán Noel, Ronny Quevedo, David Quiles, Wilson Ramos Jr., Oliver Rios, Karen Shaw and Seldon Yuan. The exhibition is curated by Marcos Dimas and Christine Licata

Bringing together visual artists and Nuyorican poets, the exhibition explores the elastic nature of verbal and visual language. Relationships between how we see and the way we describe the world around us are malleable and intrinsically connected. Within this discourse, the ongoing contributions and legacy of the Nuyorican poets offer important insight. (Re)inventors of the vernacular, they continually encompass other art mediums and expand the boundaries between that which is seen, said and experienced in culture.

Together with visual artists whose work also exists in a realm between expression and perception, the exhibition provokes an expansive dialogue on familiar socio-political realities and constructs of everyday life such as: identity, economics, interpersonal relationships, public media and government practices. Incorporating multimedia installations drawing, collage, found objects as well as digital and traditional printmaking, “See What I Mean” offers a look beyond the surface of words and images to reveal deeper understandings.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS Anibal Arroyo is a graphic artist that studied at The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. He is the premier artist of the local art coalition, MAS Media Studios. As such, he has been charged with the illustration duties of their self-published flagship title Street Journal. www.MASmediastudios.com

Nicky Enright is a multimedia artist, educator, and DJ with a BFA from The Cooper Union, and an MFA from Hunter College, both in New York City. He has completed public commissions for clients such as the MTA Arts for Transit (New York), and the Smithsonian Institution, and NASA (Washington D.C.). He has received various awards including an apexart residency in Thailand, December 2010. His international currency, the Globo, was recently exhibited at Exit Art (New York) and profiled on the Forbes Magazine website. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and he lives and works in New York City. www.Lightbolt.net

Sandra María Esteves is a New York City based poet and visual artist known as “La Madrina/the Godmother of Nuyorican Poetry.” She has published several poetry collections, including “Bluestown Mockingbird Mambo” (Arte Público Press, 1990). Her poems have been anthologized extensively, including in “Red Hot Salsa;” “The Heath Anthology of American Literature;” “Herencia: The Anthology of Hispanic Literature;” and “Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café.” Esteves’ awards include a Pregones Theater/NEA Master Artist Award, the Con Tinta Award from Acentos and AWP and a Poetry Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has taught creative writing workshops for over 30 years for the NYC Board of Education, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Caribbean Cultural Center and El Museo del Barrio. She has presented her work at major cultural centers and educational institutions throughout the country. www.SandraEsteves.com

Nicholas Fraser is a mixed media artist living and working in Brooklyn. He received his BFA from Atlanta College of Art and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts (New York). He also studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In 2010 he completed new installations at The Flux Factory (Queens), for the exhibition Escape from New York in a former silk dying factory in Paterson, NJ, and for “CONVERSATIONS, I’m Caught Up” at the Bronx Art Space. His text installations were also included in the 2009 “Art in Odd Places” along 14th street. His video work has been shown in Toronto, Atlanta and Germany. The Indianapolis Museum of Art will present his Mapping Projects series in the fall of 2011 as part of the show “Paper Landscapes.” He will be a resident artist on Governors Island as part of the LMCC’s Swing Space program in 2011. www.nicholasfraser.com

Caridad De La Luz “La Bruja” is a bronx-born poet/actor/activist known as LA BRUJA, considered one of America’s leading spoken word artists. She is a renaissance woman, NY Times called her “a Juggernaut” after a sold out run of her musical Boogie Rican Blvd. Her music has crossed over internationally, her debut album “Brujalicious” can be found on iTunes, the hit Keep It Movin’ Like ranked in the top 100 in Germany and London for over a year. Known for her captivating performance on Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Poetry Jam, she continues to use her power of word to create positive change in the lives of countless inner-city youth. She has created a movement called “Latinas 4 Life” and travels to countless schools teaching poetry, art and self-expression. www.labrujamusic.com

Soraya Marcano was born in Puerto Rico. She is a visual artist currently living and working in Brooklyn. She received an MFA from Pratt Institute. Her mixed media work has been exhibited internationally at museums and galleries in Puerto Rico, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Canada, Dominican Republic, The United Kingdom, and France; and it is represented in public and private collections. Marcano has participated in artists in residence programs in New York, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica and she has been an educator for the Bronx Museum, El Museo del Barrio, The Guggenheim Museum as well as other organizations and educational centers. www.sorayamarcano.jimdo.com

Joetta Maue is Brooklyn based artist. Her work has been shown extensively throughout galleries and museums across the country as well as in London and Japan. Most recently her work was seen in solo exhibitions at Elizabeth Beland Gallery (Massachusetts), Basement Gallery, (Oakland) and Corridor Gallery, (New York City). Maue’s work is currently a part of the traveling exhibit of the Fiber Arts International. She also authors the popular textile arts blog “Little Yellowbird” as well as being a regular contributor to the online journal “Mr. X Stich” and the “Textile Arts Center blog.” Maue also curates exhibitions focused on contemporary textiles. She is featured in the recently published book, “Indie Craft” (edited by Jo Waterhouse), the January issue of “Needle Magazine” and in a forthcoming embroidery book in 2011. www.joettamaue.com

Elsa María Meléndez is a mixed-media artist living and working in Puerto Rico. She received a BFA from the University of Puerto Rico and also studied at both the Turabo University (Puerto Rico) and the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies (Washington). Her exhibitions include Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Third Experimental Print Biennial in Mogosoaia (Romania), The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MA), Museo de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Lolita Rubial Foundation (Uruguay), IV Printmaking Festival (Portugal), The Townhouse Gallery (Ireland) and Artist Space (New York). Her work is also included in several public collections, such as Museo de Arte de Ponce (Puerto Rico), Art of our America Collection (Cuba) and Puerto Rican Athenaeum (Puerto Rico). http://elsa-melendez.msa-x.org

Jesús Papoleto Meléndez is a performance & visual poet, and one of the remaining original founders of the Nuyorican Poets’ Movement. His poetry publications include “Casting Long Shadows” (1970), “Have You Seen Liberation” (1971), “Street Poetry & Other Poems” (1972), and “Concertos on Market Street” (1994). His play, The “Junkies Stole the Clock” (1974), was the first production of Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival’s Nuyorican Playwrights’ Unit. Meléndez lived in Tijuana, Mexico, where he formed the poetry/jazz ensemble, “Exiled Genius” with Eugene Mingus and M’chaka Uba. He also formed “Nuroyrican School Original Poetry Jazz Ensemble” with Americo Casiano, Jr. Meléndez has received “The Rev. Pedro Pietri Hand Award in Poetry/Playwriting” (2006), “The Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award” from Amherst College in 2004, the 2001 NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) Fellowship in Poetry, the Artist for Community Enrichment (ACE) Award from the Bronx Council on the Arts in 1995 and a COMBO (Combined Arts of San Diego) NEA Fellowship in Literature. He has performed his poetry with El Reverendo Pedro Pietri at the Folger-Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.

Antonio “Titanium” Montalvo is the Co-founder of Alpha Godz Entertainment. His work includes illustrating his own projects such as “Enlightenment” and “Time of Your Life” and co-illustrating the frontispiece in Tales of the TMNT #41 for Mirage Studios. Recently venturing into Toy sculpture he won the “APW Most NYC Custom Toy Award” in 2009. www.titaniumtoyz.blogspot.com

Christian “XIAN” Montalvo is the Founder of Alpha Godz Entertainment and creator of the original character, “Donnie Bling-Bling.” A self-publishing Graphic Artist who has produced work for advertising agencies in Miami, New York and Santo Domingo. Named Third Runner Up in the Weill Cornell Nineteenth Medical Complex Art Show in 2009 and had his work earn a South Florida Local Silver Addy Award in 2006. www.alphagodz.com

Urayoán Noel is a poet, performer, translator, and critic who has lived in New York (mostly uptown and the Bronx) since 1999. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he received his B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico, his M.A. from Stanford, and his Ph.D. from NYU. Among his works are the books of poetry “Hi-Density Politics” (2010) and “Boringkén” (2008), and the performance DVD “Kool Logic Sessions” (2005). He has published poems, essays, reviews, and translations in “Fence,” “BOMB,” “Centro Journal,” New York Quarterly, and in numerous anthologies; and he has taught poetry workshops at the Millay Colony for the Arts, Acentos, and the University of Puerto Rico. His multimedia work includes two ongoing collaborations: “Noricua” (with Edwin Torres and Spanic Attack) and “The Edgemere Letters” (with Martha Clippinger). Noel is now Assistant Professor of English at SUNY-Albany. www.urayoannoel.com

Ronny Quevedo is a visual artist currently living and working in New York. He received his BFA from The Cooper Union (New York). Quevedo has exhibited at the Bronx River Art Center (New York), Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (New York), Saltworks Gallery (Atlanta) and the Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos College (New York). He has participated in the following artist programs: Artists in the Market Place (AIM) at the Bronx Museum for Arts (New York) and the Emerge program at Aljira Contemporary Art Center (Newark). http://ps1.org/studio-visit/artist/ronny-quevedo

David Quiles has been an Underground Comic artist for over 10 years. His work can be seen in projects such as “Arcane,” “Gothicsoul,” “Bare Knuckled Fighter,” as well as producing work for such renowned companies as Harris Publications. www.infinitelinecomics.com

Wilson Ramos, Jr. is a Comic Book artist who’s worked on coloring such titles as “Wolverine,” “Thor,” “Deadpool” and “Spider-Woman” to name a few. He is also a letterer of many Japanese comics (Manga) and Korean comics (Mahwah). His work experience includes 10 years at Marvel Comics, Art Director for Committed Comics, and Co-founder of Section 8 Comics. www.the8spot.com

Oliver Rios was born and raised in East Harlem. Graffiti murals and airbrushing in the late ‘80s and ‘90s gave Rios notoriety in El Barrio. He has painted murals that have been featured on many prominent shows such as The Latin Grammy’s in 2005. His work was also featured in Columbia University, The New Museum of Contemporary Art and El Museo Del Barrio (New York). His work is being distributed through out the United States and Canada by many of the leading cellular providers. Rios now focuses his energy by designing posters for charities such as Breast Cancer Awareness, AIDS and the environment through Orios Designs, a graphic design company which uses visual art continues to help its clients with their creative goals. www.oriosdesigns.com

Karen Shaw is a mixed-media artists living and working in New York. She received her BFA from Hunter College (New York) and completed graduate courses at Hunter College and Long Island University (New York). Her extensive national and international exhibits include Sol de Río (Guatemala City), Galerie Lina Davidov (Paris), Dany Keller Galerie (Munich), Grita Insam Galerie (Vienna) and Bertha Urdang Gallery (New York). Her work is part of many public collections, including Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Museum Van Hedendaagse (Antwerp). Her work has been reviewed by renowned publications such as “New York Times Review,” “Artnews,” “New York Art” and “Newsday.” Shaw has taught at several universities throughout the country, including Princeton University, Northern Illinois University (Dekalb), Queensborough Community College (New York) and University of Tennessee (Knoxville). www.karenshaw100.com

Seldon Yuan received his Bachelors from Carnegie Mellon University and his MFA from Hunter College. He also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts (Paris). His national and international exhibitions include Rare Gallery (New York), International Center for Photography (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Yonder Gallery (Oslo, Norway) and La Générale (Paris). Yuan participated in artists residencies at Study Abroad on the Bowery (New York), Naropa SWP (Boulder, CO) and Chashama North Artist Residency (Pine Plains, NY). Yuan’s publications include his poetry book “morning, afternoon, evenings,” in addition to work featured in “La Mer Gelee,” “Bonus Magazine,” “Day 19 Magazine” and “Oakland Review.” His work is represented in many public collections, including New York Public Library’s Photography Collection and the New York Historical Society. www.seldonyuan.com