David Rios Ferreira

David Rios Ferreira creates large-scale drawings that merge the aesthetic line quality of coloring books, animation stills, 18th century newspaper etchings and paintings to produce eerily alluring abstract scenes on Mylar and paper. In his drawings, clusters of lines are stockpiled and dominate space. Dense compositions form hybrid landscapes for reinterpreted figures such as Pinocchio, Astro Boy and Peter Pan to play out imagined histories. Ferreira threads these various sources in order to draw together the emotional, sexual, and psychological complexities inherent in historical narrative. He is interested in how the past informs the present and the idea that the two can exist on the same plain. Issues of power found in the colonial history, especially that of the U.S. and its territories in which they subjected school children to deculturlization practices are at root of David Rios Ferreira work.

Rios Ferreira has exhibited in galleries and museums in the US and abroad, including CoCA Seattle, Nemeth Art Center Minnesota and Kunstraum Richard Sorge Gallery, Berlin. He has held residencies at the Lower East Side Printshop and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and was named Emerge 11 Artist Fellow by Aljira: a center for ...

2015
Double Visions, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Project Space, New York, NY.

2014
I put this moment … here. I put this moment … here. I put this moment … over here
Aljira Emerge 11 Exhibition, Curated by Jorge Rojas. Aljira: a center for contemporary art, Newark, NJ.
Other Worlds, Curated by Jill Slaymaker. Skylight Gallery, New York, NY.
Figure Of Speech, Curator by Ricardo Francis, Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Brooklyn, NY.
Eye Candy, Curated by Jill Slaymaker. Jadite Gallery, New York, NY.

2013
Midwest Multiples, Curated by Rachel Gladfelter. Nemeth Art Center,
Park Rapids, MN.
Visual Aids: Postcards From The Edge, Sikkema Jenkins &Co., New York, NY.

2012
2012 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship Showcase Exhibition, Curated by Jerry Kaba. Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, NJ.
Read Between the Lines, Curated by Micaela Giovannotti. Lower East Side Printshop, New York, NY.
Divergence, Curated by Rachel Gladfelter, Lower East Side Printshop, New York, NY.


AWARDS and RESIDENCIES
2015
Innovative Cultural Advocacy Fellowship, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute,
New York, NY.

2014
EFA SHIFT Residency, ...