The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture offers a wide variety of art exhibits throughout the year featuring original works by local, regional, and national Puerto Rican and Latino artists. By displaying an assortment of art forms and styles, IPRAC seeks to stimulate the creation and understanding of Puerto Rican art and culture.
Everyone Matters
The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture presents the “Everyone Matters” Art Exhibit opening in October. Everyone Matters showcases artwork by over 50 Humboldt Park community residents sharing personal messages of resilience and positive life choices. The exhibit reflects personal journeys towards healing where art becomes a tool for personal empowerment. Everyone Matters brings together seven community organizations, art therapists and teaching artists to disseminate stories of personal growth relevant to the Chicago Latino community. Everyone Matters is presented by the Behavioral Health Task Force of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness.
Photo Gallery: Everyone Matters
Lo Mejor de Nuestros Pueblos
A photographic journey through the town of Comerio. On the eve of Noche Jibara, which this year celebrated the music and art of the Puerto Rican town of Comerio, the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture debuted their latest exhibit “Lo Mejor de Nuestros Pueblos” – A photographic journey through the town of Comerio. The exhibit, which featured numerous awe-inspiring photographs of the landmarks, scenery and people of Comerio, truly captured the essence of the beautiful mountain town.
50 Years of Claridad Newspaper
On June 1, 2009, Claridad newspaper, the official journal of the Puerto Rican nation, celebrated its 50th anniversary of uninterrupted publication. During the summer of 2010, the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture paid homage to this important milestone with an exciting photographic exhibit featuring pictures that have appeared in the newspaper during its tumultuous history.
“50 Years of Claridad Newspaper” highlighted the importance of Claridad newspaper and its historic role in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence, human and civil rights, social justice, unabashed journalism in defense of workers, the environment, our natural resources and in staunch opposition to militarism, corruption, discrimination and repression.
Photo Gallery: 50 Años de CLARIDAD
RETRO/INTRO/SPECTIVES by Elizam Escobar
In the summer of 2010, the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture presented the work of former Puerto Rican political prisoner and renown artist Elizam Escobar with an exhibit titled “RETRO/INTRO/SPECTIVES.” The exhibit began from a series of drawings of jail bars transmuting into sculptures, which Escobar did in prison. From there, constructions, mixed media and three-dimensional works emerged. The theme of jail bars and the prison experience are prominent throughout this exhibit and impose an autobiographical and political atmosphere through the symbolism of art as an exchange between the spectators and the work.
Youtube Video: Elizam Escobar / Intro
Uteros by Richard Santiago
The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture welcomed 2010 with an exciting exhibit from acclaimed Puerto Rican plastic artist, Richard Santiago (b. 1971). Santiago’s work took over both exhibit halls with more than 20 pieces from his new production, “Úteros,” and numerous trajectory pieces including the awe-inspiring “Cristo de Boriken.”
“Úteros” (uterus) is a traveling solo exhibition. Contrasting retrospective work with his most recent, experimental paintings, this show’s selection of 20-plus pieces explores three interconnected sources of creation / gestation: the human body, art and the universe.
Photo Gallery: Úteros by Richard Santiago
Tejiendo Nuestra Identidad / A tapestry of Identity
In effort to both educate the community on the history and social significance of knitting in Puerto Rico and to honor the Puerto Rican women who made this trade an art form, the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture and the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women hosted “Tejiendo Nuestra Identidad / A Tapestry of Identity,” a stirring exhibit that showcased handwork created by Puerto Rico women in Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican communities across the United States.
The exhibit displayed a beautiful collection of handmade quilts, dresses, dolls and other works of art made by the hands of Puerto Rican women and spanning several generations. Visitors to the exhibit were amazed by the beauty and detail of each piece and the stories of the magnificent women who stitched them.
Photo Gallery: Tejiendo Nuestra Identidad
Romantic Political Affair by Osvaldo Budet
On the eve of the most Puerto Rican of holidays, Three Kings Day, the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture (IPRAC) hosted the opening of a new art exhibit by world renown Puerto Rican artist, Osvaldo Budet.
Through his political art, Osvaldo Budet has truly captured the transformative relationship between figures of authority and the powerless. His art has been exhibited in numerous galleries throughout Puerto Rico, the United States and Europe, where he has received numerous prestigious awards.
Photo Gallery: Romantic Political Affair Photo Gallery
A Hero Comes Home: A celebration of the legacy of Danny Sotomayor
In the decades that Chicago has grappled with the AIDS pandemic, we have been blessed with a wealth of activists. Standing tall among these luminaries was Humboldt Park’s own Daniel Sotomayor. A Chicago native, from both Puerto Rican and Mexican descent, Sotomayor established himself as the first nationally syndicated, openly gay political cartoonist. A vibrant, angry young man, Sotomayor used his activism and considerable artistic talent to strip away the rhetoric that too often concealed woefully misguided policies.
During his career, Sotomayor created more than 200 cartoons that brought public awareness to the issues of suffering, discrimination and government inaction associated with the AIDS epidemic. Tragically, Sotomayor lost his battle with AIDS on February 5, 1992. On the 18th anniversary of his death, the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture hosted an opening reception for an exhibit on Sotomayor’s life and work displaying hundreds of his most famous cartoons and showing the rarely seen Sotomayor documentary “Short Fuse: Portrait of an AIDS Activist.”
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