ASU Art Museum to present first solo museum exhibition of Puerto Rican multidisciplinary artist

Beginning Aug. 19, the ASU Art Museum will be presenting the first solo museum exhibition of Puerto Rican multidisciplinary artist Luis Rivera Jimenez.

"Luis Rivera Jiménez: A Brief Proposal on Race and Cultural Cosplay" features newly created works completed in 2023 while the artist was in residence with CALA Alliance, a Latino arts organization based in Phoenix that partnered with the ASU Art Museum to achieve their common mission of incubating and accelerating the presence of Latino art in the United States.

The works in the exhibit, ranging from sculpture and installation to authored texts and audio, offer space for discussion around race, identity and power, expanding upon the artist’s practice, which uses the intricacies of language, political thought and daily experience in the Caribbean to create intentional spaces of learning, conversation and care.

Rivera Jimenez’s sculptural objects and installations pose questions about the dynamics of race and representation. His practice reflects upon and explores the underpinning of what he describes as a “global digital society,” where a relationship between memory, images and symbols can be traced, mapped and proliferated. 

The interactive exhibition is informed by communications, encounters and materials found by Rivera Jimenez during his time in Phoenix. The objects and texts found within the show build on the artist’s accumulation and processing of various tools: discussions, found objects, experiences in contact with communities, digital content, and physical and ephemeral materials.

The exhibition is curated by Alana Hernandez, CALA Alliance curator of Latino art at the ASU Art Museum, with Sade Moore, curatorial assistant at CALA Alliance. It will be on view from Aug. 19 through Dec. 31 at the ASU Art Museum at Nelson Fine Arts Center.

This exhibition showcases, in part, how CALA Alliance and the ASU Art Museum promote the exchange of new ideas, perspectives and experiences among artists, students and the public through various programs, especially those that educate and inspire the public about the richness of the Latinx cultural heritage.

A series of three free in-person programs are offered in conjunction with “Luis Rivera Jimenez: A Brief Proposal on Race and Cultural Cosplay”:

Aug. 19: Opening reception

Aug. 20: Translation and Language Justice in the Borderlands

Sept. 7: Performance

Dec. 1: Karaoke night

More information about these programs and how to register will be available on the museum’s website as details are confirmed.

"Luis Rivera Jimenez: A Brief Proposal on Race and Cultural Cosplay” is made possible by gifts to CALA Alliance’s general operating fund and a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.