“Constant Storm: Art from Puerto Rico and the Diaspora” is on view until December 4, 2021 at the USF Contemporary Art Museum (University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, Florida.) A closing reception will take place on Friday, November 19, 2021.

The exhibition is curated by Noel Smith, former CAM Deputy Director and Curator of Latin American and Caribbean Art, and Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator-at-Large.

As The Weekly Challenger describes, “among many works to be exhibited will be Angel Otero’s meditational, draped paintings; Miguel Luciano’s Pimp My Piragua, a customized shaved ice pushcart with sound system, video and LEDs; Wanda Ramimundi-Ortiz’s sculptural dress fashioned from FEMA tarps and other storm detritus; Yiyo Tirado’s Caribe Hostil, a neon sculpture referencing Puerto Rico’s tourist industry; and Gamaliel Rodríguez’s ghostly drawings of airport control towers all over Puerto Rico that were closed after Hurricane Maria.”

Exhibition artist Miguel Luciano was in residence at USF September 16-19. In the photo above, he is shown riding “Pimp My Piragua” at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of the Tampa Bay Rays Game, on Roberto Clemente Day, September 17, 2021.

Description (SFU): It has been four years since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and the archipelago has still not fully recovered. In the storm’s wake, Puerto Rican artists on the island and on the mainland have wrested creativity from chaos. Some have organized ongoing relief efforts, others have banded together to pool scarce resources; still others have committed themselves to critical reflection on Puerto Rico’s post-Maria reality, including the island’s political and economic relationship to the U.S. Constant Storm: Art from Puerto Rico and the Diaspora brings together artists from diverse generations to cull the insights and experience of Puerto Rican artists after the disaster. 

Drawing from art made on the islands as well as from the established and newer Puerto Rican diasporas in New York, California and Florida, Constant Storm includes recent artworks in a variety of media to create an exhibition with a textured “biennial” feel that also serves as an historic opportunity for artists to jointly assay their evolving response. 

Artists in the “Constant Storm” exhibition include: Rogelio Baéz Vega (New York), Sofía Gallisá Muriente (San Juan), Jorge González Santos (San Juan), Karlo Andrei Ibarra (San Juan), Ivelisse Jiménez (New York), Miguel Luciano (New York), Natalia Lassalle-Morillo (Los Angeles-San Juan), Angel Otero (New York), Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz (Orlando), SkittLeZ-Ortiz (New York), Gabriel Ramos (Tarpon Springs), Jezabeth Roca González (San Diego-Añasco), Gamaliel Rodríguez (San Juan), and Yiyo Tirado Rivera (San Juan). [. . .]

For more information, see http://www.usfcam.usf.edu/CAM/exhibitions/2021_09_Constant_Storm/Constant_Storm.html

Also see https://theweeklychallenger.com/constant-storm-art-from-puerto-rico-and-the-diaspora-sept-24-dec-4/