New York – Hendershot Gallery is pleased to announce Christian Curiel’s first New York solo exhibition, No Hay Olvido/ There’s No Forgetting, curated by Adriana Farietta. The gallery will feature a survey of Curiel’s figurative paintings and works on paper from 2007 to 2011 that explore self-identity through latent memories of youth and maintain a central focus on relationships and belonging. Through meta-surrealist depictions, Curiel uses various signifiers for illustrating the complexities of youth and the concerns of self-identity, socio-psychological integration and how they correlate. The title of the exhibition, culled from a poem by Pablo Neruda’s second volume of Residencia en la tierra [Residence On Earth], references the human condition and that in spite of the fact that all things must die, life goes on. A secret dialogue is formed from the metaphoric narratives where things keep happening– the passage of time does not stop. Curiel makes a daring and aesthetic statement by presenting highly imaginative yet semi-autobiographical works that are at once detached yet eerily familiar. The figures are somewhat tragic but coming of age in their transition from childhood to adulthood. The result is a shared experience in which his self-examination creates nostalgic paintings that explore the permanent nature of both identity and narrative through the use of storytelling. Our memories have a formative say in how we develop and his images open up the possibility of interpretations. Curiel recognizes that dreams remain a source of his art and that art itself is another form of dreaming.

Curiel is one of the artists included in El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files, El Museo del Barrio’s sixth biennial of Latino and Latin American Art currently on view until January 8, 2012. Curated by Elvis Fuentes, Rocio Aranda-Alvarado and Trinidad Fombella, this Biennial highlights the most innovative, cutting edge art being produced by emerging Latino and Latin American artists currently working in the greater New York area.

Christian Curiel’s paintings have been exhibited by galleries and museums in the United States and abroad and are part of several private, public and corporate collections. Some exhibitions include Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, The Bass Museum of Art, The American Society, El Museo Del Barrio, Galerie Sultana, Kevin Bruk Gallery and Lehmann Maupin. Curiel is also the recipient of the Cooper Union A.I.R. Fellowship, the Cintas Fellowship Prize and the Robert Schoelkopf Travelling Fellowship from Yale School of Art. Christian Curiel was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico to Cuban parents in 1977. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Adriana Farietta is a Brooklyn-based independent curator and has worked with organizations such as Big Screen Plaza, the Brooklyn Museum, Scope Art Fair, Volta NY, Pulse Miami, Artlog, Locust Projects in Miami and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. She has curated gallery exhibitions in New York and Miami.

••• For more information on No Hay Olvido/ There’s No Forgetting and Christian Curiel please contact Hendershot Gallery at 212.239.1210 or [email protected]