Real Public (project info + press)

REAL PUBLIC:

Real Art Ways has commissioned four new works of public art, each created specifically for Hartford, that make use of the existing creativity, vibrancy, and culture of Hartford's Parkville and Frog Hollow neighborhoods. The projects will be open through the summer.

Sofia Maldonado's mural, on the Pelican Tattoo building in Frog Hollow, blends elements of female aesthetics and street cultures. Maldonado worked with two interns to create the project, including a neighborhood teenager from Mi Casa, a Parkville youth organization. Maldonado was born in Puerto Rico. Now working and living in Brooklyn, her artwork is a blend of fashion trends, the Latina female aesthetic and various street culture elements.

PRESS:

E- FLUX

Hartford Courant Editorial

Yankee Magazine Article

NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Anarcho-Muralist

• Published May 31, 2009

Twenty-four-year-old artist Sofia Maldonado makes large-scale murals and recently painted a skateboard park in Havana. But don’t call her a graffiti artist.

(Photo: Jake Chessum)

O

n weekends in high school I would go around Puerto Rico and paint female characters and organic forms on random walls. I like the textures of buildings as they deteriorate. I did a mural 177 feet long in Old San Juan, and an abandoned pool in the rain forest in Rio Grande that we turned into a skateboard park. It’s not graffiti: I never use a can. Always a brush.

I love the skateboarding scene—it’s a really refreshing, anarchist sport. For the Havana Biennial, I painted a park and gave away 40 skateboards. I’ve painted some rooftop ramps here since I’ve moved to New York, but they don’t last too long before they’re painted over. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of permission, to paint in the streets here.

The recession doesn’t affect young artists as much. Except that all this high-class lifestyle that art students wanted to achieve has come down to a realistic level. You’re going to be an artist, but you’re not going to have an artist loft in Soho. It’s time to get a little more real.

Maldonado’s most recent mural, for Real Art Way, was just completed above a tattoo shop in Hartford, Connecticut.

As told to Alexandra Peers.

WALL STREET JOURNAL (video)

Cuba's Skateboard Scene Has Scrappy Charm

6/4/2009 by Kelly Crow.

In contrast to America's glitzy and over-marketed skateboarding scene, the young skaters in Cuba embrace a do-it-yourself, scrappy aesthetic. Kelly Crow reports from Havana, Cuba.

Skate My Patria

Skate My Patria a humanitarian artist project hopes that the American/European skater community would be willing to donate new and/or used skateboarding equipment to help the skater community in Cuba. This project took place in March 2009 during the 10th Havana Biennial, Cuba. (by Sofia Maldonado)

For more information visit the blog: skatemypatria.blogspot.com

Press @ COOL HUNTING!  Title: Sofia Maldonado: Skate My Patria

Real Public (Hartford, CT)

 

For more information on this project visit REAL ART WAYS

CIRCA 2009

         

For this event I decided to dress with high-couture dresses, to mimic the female characters of my artwork. Dress were designed by Namibia Viera, in Puerto Rico.

  

Recent paintings at Circa International Art Fair