Midsummer's Night Dream at 18.2208º N, 66.5901º W focuses on the sketch as a commentary on different ideas about Puerto Rico's physical and political state, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane María which destroyed the island on September 20th 2017.
The múcara (vase) is a fertility symbol for many indigenous Latin-American civilizations. Negroni uses it as a recurring element that emphasizes the earth’s capacity for giving and nurturing. The múcara, together with the image of the fish, serve as metaphors for people coming together and sharing the little they have left in order to survive in new, hostile social and economic environments resulting from the hurricane and the accumulation of mistakes and abuse from past and present government administrations. With the addition of the floral element Negroni celebrates and looks optimistically toward Puerto Rico’s future.
Juan Alberto Negroni (PR 1979, based in Dallas, TX), has an MFA in Studio Arts from Southern Methodist University in Dallas TX, an MA Ed in Art History and Museum Studies from Caribbean University PR, and a BFA from Puerto Rico School of Fine Arts with a Major in Printmaking.
Group shows include: Detroit: A Brooklyn Case Study, SUPERFRONT LA, Los Angeles, CA (2010); Dialectic City, Caguas Museum of Art (2013); In Response, Audrey Love Gallery at Bakehouse Art Complex, Muestra Nacional (2015); Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan PR (2015); Art in America, The Satellite Show, Miami FL (2015); Kinds of Monuments, Zattere Cultural Flow Zone, Dorsoduro, Venice IT; 2da Gran Bienal Tropical, PR; Home & Visitor, Le Consortium, Dijon FR, among many others. He is the recipient of the Meadows Artistic Scholarship Award 2015, and the 2017 Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'art Dijon Residency Fellowship. His work is part of public and private art collections in Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, Argentina, United States, Canada, Australia, and Greece.
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