It's also the name of a local restaurant and lounge in Astoria, NY. Alegria Lounge has recently become the home base for a group of 6 young, latino artists (myself included).
THE ALEGRIA ART COLLECTIVE
I have never been part of an artist collective before, so this has been a really exciting past few
months. The group consists of JohnMichael Arcella, Candido Crespo, Andres Gallardo, Melinda Gomez, Jessica M. Luciere, and myself, Jose Antonio Ojeda.
We all came together through knowing one or the other. Our common thread became our first group show at the Lounge, entitled "Salsa: A Fine Arts Experience." The Lounge, since its inception, had intentions of featuring young local artists on it's walls. For the "Salsa" show, we each produced three pieces that was inspired by Salsa (music, culture, history, etc.). A live 10 piece Salsa Band performed at our opening in March.
Last week, our April show entitled " Y Ahora Que?" (which translates to, "...and now what?") opened. The theme centered around the 'American Dream' and what it meant to us. We e
ach produced two pieces, the first dealing with the question "What IS the American dream?" and the second addressing "And once the American Dream is realized (or not), Now what??"
This show was particularly exciting because we all did a live painting on two canvases, that was later raffled off.
We will be having a new show (and new work) every single month. Starting in June, we will be pairing off into two's and having some 2-Person shows, as opposed to the entire collective - though all will help out in organizing.
I am very excited, because I feel that the group is keeping me on my toes, helping me to produce on a regular basis, all the while giving me the motivation and inspiration to do so. Let's see where it leads us :)
Here are my two pieces from the April show:
"Cross Your Fingers"
"This is Your Land"
See you in May!
Thanks again,
-Jose Ojeda
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