DAVID RIOS FERREIRA
Gesture for want and tears for all that is dark
October 1 – November 25, 2020

"David Rios Ferreira’s multifaceted practice draws on an array of visual sources including historical etchings, 1930’s political cartoons, and children’s coloring books. From these touchstones of visual culture, the artist produces highly graphic works defined by clusters of lines and layers of color, his output often spanning drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation."

Press Release

Image:
What we want should not be confused
2020
Watercolor, ink and collage on paper
18 X 24 inches

David Rios Ferreira – Catalytic Lines
"David Rios Ferreira‘s energetic drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations flirt with cacophony yet manage to stay on the verge, creating an idiosyncratic sense of order out of chaotic turmoils. Through turbulent lines and vibrant colors, his imagery projects a rigorous visual universe where Geo-political and mythical narratives fuse organically."
— Etty Yaniv

Mastering the Art of Curating for Young New Yorkers
"As one of the esteemed curators in the Virtual NYC Curator Collections, a collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and NYC & Company, Rios felt it was important to select online art experiences that focus on accessibility to all and raising the voices of artists who are typically not represented in the gallery setting."
— Angela Barbuti

Gesture for want and tears for all that is dark: David Rios Ferreira
at Morgan Lehman in New York, New York, USA
1 October-25 November 2020

CREATURES LIKE US: THE DRAWINGS OF DAVID RIOS FERREIRA BY JESSICA LANAY
This essay was published on the occasion of the ArtSlant Prize IX Winners Exhibition at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, March 6–12, 2018. David Rios Ferreira is the ArtSlant Prize IX Grand Prize winner.

The journeying lines that dominate David Rios Ferreira’s two-dimensional assemblage works, like an EKG reading or the longitudinal and latitudinal lines in a map, are enchanted with the force of their potential.

— Jessica Lanay

ARTSLANT Prize Winners Announced

The annual ArtSlant Prize, now in its tenth year, is a cash and exhibition award honoring emerging artists who critically engage with their medium and culture at large.

Points of Vulnerability
"Vulnerability is often misconstrued as weakness, as if it’s a cry for pity or inadvertently setting oneself up to be taken advantage of. I couldn’t disagree more. Vulnerability may compromise one’s privacy, but it is also rooted in the powers of self-advocacy, healing, and growth. The counter-behavior to vulnerability is repression, the aggressive act of slamming one’s internal doors shut and locking them, refusing to allow anyone in or out. These doors are wide open with David Rios Ferreira: in fact, he’s even added a welcome mat. The artist and curator has joined forces with Empty Set Project Space in the Bronx to present an immersive online exhibition, Expect Some Discomfort, featuring work by eight artists focusing on the varied and complicated expressions of human vulnerability. Artists Chloe Bass, Mitsuko Brooks, Dennis RedMoon Darkeem, Dominique Duroseau, Gina Goico, Néstor Pérez-Moliѐre, Katherine Toukhy, and Yeon Ji Yoo open their hearts to us in this sensitive and cathartic group exhibition."
— Rhea Nayyar

Grown-Up Art at a Children’s Museum, but It’s Still Playtime
"Mr. Rios wanted children to be exposed to the participating artists’ philosophies and activism."
— Laurel Graeber

Image: Inside Ms. Minaya’s “Spandex Installation #6 (Labyrinth).” This maze is made of stretch fabric printed in tropical patterns that allude to the Caribbean’s complex history.
Photo: January Stewart

Kids Don’t Just See Art at This Show. They Work With the Artists, Too
" 'We wanted to have the materials drive the process and focus on things that are very familiar to children,' added David Rios, the museum’s director of public programs and the show’s curator. At the same time, young people might never have thought of turning these items — string, balloons, castoff clothing, old cassette tapes — into art. 'The kid who’s not comfortable drawing or painting learns that you can manipulate wire to solve a problem or create a design,' Mr. Rios said."
— Laurel Graeber

Image: Ezra Wube, who explores technology and new media in his works, is currently in residency at the museum. The program fosters interaction between the artists and children.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

Color-Coded Practices: Caribbean Arts Professionals Perspective on Race
Stephanie Cunningham leads a conversation with David Rios Ferreira, Nyugen Smith, Dominique Duroseau, and Cosmo Whyte at Black Portraitures IV: The Color of Silence at Harvard University.

Register for the conference HERE.

SPRING/BREAK Art Show
March 6 - 12, 2018

4 Times Square, New York, NY 10036

I’m very excited to announce that I am the first place winner of the ArtSlant Prize IX. The ArtSlant Prize Exhibition will take place during Armory Week in New York at the SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Booth 2231

The SPRING/BREAK Art Show is an internationally recognized exhibition platform transforming underused and historic NYC exhibition spaces to activate and challenge the traditional cultural landscape of the art market.

Purchase tickets for the fair HERE.

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) announces its latest cohort of 28 artists and 12 organizations receiving financial support from the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA), the only national grant program supporting Latino artists and organizations in all creative disciplines. These 40 recipients are recognized for artistic excellence in pursuit of social justice through the arts.

DAVID RIOS FERREIRA receives a 2018 NALAC Grant to support the development and production of large-scale drawings that investigate the content of children’s popular culture to shed new light on the persistence of colonialist narratives in the mainstream imagination. These issues resonate with contemporary histories of migration and speak to the Latino experience. This grant will support David Rios Ferreira’s current trajectory as a professional visual artist, enabling him to share his work with a broader audience through the artist’s first solo exhibition to be presented at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in Vermont from June to October 2018.

David Rios Ferreira
And by each crime and every kindness 2017
C-print, acetate, gouache and collage mounted on window panes, 66 x 270 inches.
Photo: Pedro Estevez
July 16–Aug 27, 2017

Wave Hill
West 249th Street and Independence Avenue
Bronx, NY 10471-2899

UNDER THE RADAR

THE BIG SMALL SHOW, featuring almost 100 artists showing small painting, drawing and 3Dimensional works, will open at Drawing Rooms with a free reception on Friday, December 16th from 6 to 9pm and continuing on Saturday, December 17th from 2 to 6pm.
Curated by Anne Trauben

Drawing Rooms
180 Grand Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302

Double Visions at EFA Project Space
FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 28, 2015
EFA Project Space, 323 W. 39th St, 2nd floor

Artists: Louise Barry, Andrew Beccone, Fay Chiang & Sidd Joag, David Court,
Kristyna Milde & Marek Milde, David Rios Ferreira

As part of the SHIFT residency, the artists in this show all share a double life, balancing their practice as artists, with their commitment to being arts workers.

David Rios Ferreira on NJTV Emerge 11 at Aljira

SHIFT Resident 2014 Spotlight- Check out my Q&A on the SHIFT Residency Blog Resident Spotlight 2014: David Rios Ferreira

I put this moment … here. I put this moment … here. I put this moment … over here
Aljira Emerge 11 Exhibition
September 25 – December 20, 2014

Emerge 11 Artists:
Katie Cercone, Nell Painter, William D. Caballero, Nobutaka Aozaki, Diana Schmertz, David Rios Ferreira, Heidi Lau, Stephanie Powell, Ariana Barat, Phoenix Lindsey-Hall, Patricia Cazorla, Ken Weathersby, Rosemary Taylor, Ann Oren, Tai Hwa Goh, Barbara Wallace, Vikki Michalios, Maria Buyondo, Isaac Aden, Jennifer Williams, Caroline Mak

About the exhibition from curator Jorge Rojas:
One of art’s greatest purposes is to help us connect everything from our historical and cultural past to our wildest and most unimaginable future. The artists in this exhibition, each with a strong and unique voice, explore artmaking as a way of relating to the world and, in doing so, are creating new information about how we make contact.

SHIFT residency, formerly the Residency for Arts-Workers as Artists, was created to provide an unprecedented opportunity: studio space and peer support for practicing artists who also work as arts professionals (administrators, curators, directors, and others).

David Rios Ferreira is named one of seven residents selected from nominations based on outstanding contributions to the art community plus the potential for artistic growth in a shared interactive environment.

July 22 - August 16, 2014

Reception: Tuesday, July 22, from 6-8pm

Jadite Gallery
660 10th Ave
New York, NY 10036
Open Mon - Sat, 2 - 7pm

Curated by Jill Slaymaker, Eye Candy celebrates the joyful relaxation of summer, with its sensations and confections, rich, mouthwatering colors, and days spent luxuriating at the beach.

Childlike innocence is equally evident in David Rios Ferreira’s painted drawings where he combines children’s cartoons and historical folklore with his interest in child psychology. He is particularly influenced by Puerto Rican culture and his work features images of young boys floating happily in the air, playing out narratives that explore the emotional, sexual, and psychological complexities of the colonial history.
Read more on the Examiner

Feb. 27 - April 4, 2014

Reception: Thursday, Feb. 27, from 6-9pm

Skylight Gallery
538 W. 29th Street
New York, NY 10001

Skylight Gallery is pleased to present Other Worlds, a group exhibition that explores the idea of alternate, multiple and simultaneous realities through photography, installation, collage, painting, printmaking and book art. Curated by Jill Slaymaker, the show brings together works that have an implied narrative, suggesting that secrets abound in the tension between the real and the illusory.

The duality between the personal and the historical are at the basis of David Rios Ferreira's painted drawings. His work is informed partly by his concern with the deculturalization of children in Puerto Rico by the U.S. He merges children's cartoons, folklore, history and child psychology. David was awarded a New Jersey State Council on the Arts fellowship for works on paper last year.

David Rios Ferreira talks about his experience in Financial Literacy for Artist

On February 20th, David Rios Ferreira was awarded the 2013 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship for Works on Paper.

N.J. Arts Council awards 22 grants to individual artists

David Rios Ferreira joins the Emerge program at Aljira. Aljira Emerge is a career management program designed to provide practical career training for emerging artists.

See if you can find my post card during this great weekend event.

Visual Aids and Sikkema Jenkins & Co. host the 15th Annual
Post Cards From the Edge Silent Auction

Curated by Micaela Giovannotti

The works in the group exhibition Read Between the Lines, all from artists currently in residence at the Printshop, encourage the audience to develop a longer and deeper relationship with the images on view.

See the press release on ArtCat

Opening reception: Wednesday, September 26, 6-8pm
Exhibition Dates: September 12 - November 4, 2012

Lower East Side Printshop, Inc.
306 West 37th Street, 6th Floor

DIVERGENCE
View the Press Release
On view March 12 - May 9
Open M - F 10am - 6pm, S - S 12noon - 6pm
Free and open to the public

Reception for artists: Wednesday, April 25, 6-8pm

The works address diverse concepts surrounding divergence and longing. For all 14 artists, their new works demonstrate delight and curiosity in experimenting with materials and concepts, and a desire to explore new possibilities in their artistic practice.

Lower East Side Printshop, Inc.
306 West 37th Street, 6th Floor

The September 2011 Exhibition (Is for the Birds)

David Rios Ferreira, one of 6 emerging artists awarded the Keyholder Residency at LES Printshop for the 2011-2012 program year.

Art Live 2011 Special Report article featured in Luxe Immo

David Rios Ferriera's drawing Rich Port is up for bidding in the

Emerging Artist's Auction 2011
Presented by
Daniel Cooney Fine Art
511 West 25th Street, #506
 New York, NY 10001
February 16 - March 2, 2011

October 2nd and 3rd, 2010

The Beacon
(the Old Medical Center ) Montgomery St. at Mill Rd. JC NJ 07304

Join Victory Arts Projects, the Jersey City Museum, and the Jersey City Cultural Affairs Office for the second Jersey City Art Fair at the Beacon. This event will feature hundreds of cutting- edge artworks from over 40 Jersey City artists which will be on view and on sale throughout the 2010 Jersey City Artists' Studio Tour weekend.

Victory Arts Projects

Come see one of my latest works along with an array of beautifully diverse art from artists across the globe.

ART LIVE 2010
Chair and the Maiden Gallery
19 Christopher Street
New York, NY, 10014

September 2 - October 3, 2010