Danielle De Jesus (b. 1987, Bushwick, Brooklyn) received her MFA from Yale University in 2021. The Puerto Rican artist’s work explores a sense of home, local, and national history by expressing narratives of displacement and diasporic cultures. Looking at painting through the artist’s photographic eye, De Jesus uses currency, iconography, and intimate framing to investigate notions of value under late capitalism. Recent exhibitions include Siempre en la Calle and a solo presentation at NADA Miami with Calderon Gallery (New York, NY); In Praise of Shadows at Lyles and King (New York, NY); and The Privilege of Getting Together at Anna Zorina Gallery (New York, NY). The artist’s work is also in the permanent collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami.
La Tiendita is from one of the artist’s longest ongoing series of compositions on U.S. currency. Originating as a series of Instagram posts during the lockdown period of the pandemic, De Jesus integrates diasporic narratives and personal history into the most ubiquitous of American cultural signifiers, the dollar bill. In La Tiendita, De Jesus completely covers the George Washington portrait, replacing it with a classic Puerto Rican market brimming with objects deepening the cultural ties such as a crucifix in the doorway, spanish signage peeking out from the crested corners of the bill, and ripe, vibrant plantains and melons on the shelves. Caught between the United States and home, De Jesus’s work sheds light on the ways diasporic communities maintain a sense of home in their new environments, eschewing the perennial pressure of assimilation. The artist has hand-embellished the edition with additional details in acrylic, making each print a unique work.
Danielle De Jesus
La Tiendita, 2022
Archival pigment print
12.85 x 22 inches
Edition of 25 with 5AP 1PP
Hand-embellished, signed and numbered by the artist
“I’m very proud to support Independent Curators International, an organization that has made arts practices and discussions accessible to so many more audiences,” says De Jesus on the collaboration. “Curators are critical for elevating a diversity of narratives, a task that has the power to catalyze progress—further affirming the power art has to change lives and communities.”
ART FOR CHANGE will donate a portion of proceeds to the International Rescue Committee in support of humanitarian aid in the wake of the devastating earthquakes in Syria and Turkey for the duration of 5 Years: An Art For Change Survey on view through March 25, 2023. As in all series, the artist will receive 50% of the net proceeds of print sales.
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*Unframed prints ship within 1-3 weeks.
*Framed prints ship within 3-6 weeks.
