Fox News Continues To Help “Controversial” Artist
Despite their mostly negative coverage, Fox News is still doing an excellent job hyping artist Sofia Maldonado’s Times Square mural and I can only hope she remembers to send them a heartfelt thank you note. After their first report culled exclusively from the mural-hating public, they spoke to the artist herself, who is thrilled about the dialogue her work is generating.
by Bucky Turco on March 17, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Editor-in-Chief:
no.
Last summer, I had the pleasure of working with Sofia Maldonado as part of Real Public, four public art projects commissioned by Real Art Ways in Hartford, Connecticut. Sofia created a mural on the façade of the Pelican Tattoo building in the Frog Hollow neighborhood titled Hey Shorty! Tu tienes novio? (Do you have a boyfriend?). The mural’s intent was to portray the rural and floral landscapes of Puerto Rico and Latin America while celebrating the diversity of the women in the community. She thought of this project as a way to revive the female attitude towards life, youth, motherhood, and community recreation.
Frog Hollow is a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood. Before creating her mural, Sofia spent over a month in the community meeting with residents and local business people. She invited women from the Lily Nail Salon to adorn the exaggerated nails on her wooden cutouts before they were installed on the Pelican Tattoo building. There was such excitement about her project in the community. Many of the residents and business owners would come outside to watch her as she worked. Her work truly exemplified community spirit. Within this community, the mural’s depiction of women was a non-issue.
For Sofia’s mural to evoke such a negative response in a place like New York City where diversity is celebrated is surprising and disappointing. Sofia’s work is not limited by mainstream expectations of positive representations of women, but instead reaches deep into communities to find strong women who DON’T conform to those stereotypes.
I commend the Times Square Alliance for their support of Sofia’s work. Organizations such as these ensure that artists can stay true to their intentions and express their ideas in unexpected, sometimes controversial ways.
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