COCO 144, SHIE MORENO, CHRISTIAN MENDOZA
"Indigenous Technology"
March 22, 2013 - April 23, 2013

Opening Reception: 
Friday, March 22, 7-9pm

COLAB PROJECTSPACE
487 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY  11217

Colab is pleased to present "Indigenous Technology," an exhibition featuring
New York-based artists COCO 144, Shie Moreno, and Christian Mendoza.
"Indigenous Technology" celebrates a systematic practice among the artists
that is continually evolving in the writing and painting of their name.  The
evolution of this practive has transformed into "Indigenous Technology" a
modern language and system of communication with branches of knowledge
dealing with life, the environment, spirituality and the sciences.

The "Indigenous Technology" exhibit presents unique vantage points to
examine the relationship these artists have with their communities and
ancestral lineages.  A shared response to sacred exchanges informs a new
movement.  As a collective, a ceremony through visual arts is formed,
transcribing cultural traditions and everyday practices are its common
motifs. 

COCO 144's career spans over 40 years. Born and raised in New York, COCO 144
was founding member of United Graffiti Artists (UGA) formed in 1972.  His
work has transformed from use of block letters to positioning these in ways
that form geometric shapes and molecular structures combining into a
repetition of fractals with mathematical calculations.  Taking a scientific
approach, COCO presents portions of his letters as if zooming in and out
through a microscope to demonstrate the details and what he considers the
living matter of the name.

Shie Morenošs early years were spent in a Havana society in the throes of a
Stalinist period amid the decaying splendor of a once grand city.  At the
age of eight, he endured a crowded, nightmare passage forever known as the
Mariel boatlift, arriving in a hostile city to a foreign culture.  His
family moved to Los Angeles and years later, returned to Miami.  The harsh
bright light of the tropics, the intensity of color, the forced blindness of
night in a crowded vessel, the elements, the sense of drifting and of place,
all served to forge the sensibility of an artist.  Moreno's work is
reflective of his Afro-Cuban ethnicity, spiritual roots, and dynamic
connections to the contextual.  The artist considers himself a living
tendril connecting ancient spirituality, the fecund tropics and contemporary
American art.

Christian Mendoza is a New York City-based artist from Nicaragua whose work
draws from the experiences of his native country and the influences of New
York City and Miami.  When Mendoza moved to the Bronx in the 1980's, he
began to develop a style combining the architectural draftsmanship with the
inspirations of letters, faces, and forms that then covered the subways of
New York City.  At a young age, the artist learned drafting and about
architecture from his father.  This influence brought Mendoza to study both
ancient and modern Mayan, Central and Native American cultures and their
hieroglyphs, petroglyphs, calligraphies, and alphabets which also inform his
work.  Mendoza has developed a unique personal language rich with highly
detailed intricate, angular symbols that draw strongly from the nature and
folklore of his homeland, while interpreting the density and chaos of daily
urban life.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: For high-resolution images and interview requests, please
contact: press@colab-projects.com or visit
http://colab-projects.com/projectspace/indigenoustechnology