Carlos Rolón

Region: Midwest

Rolón has been recognized for his elaborately crafted paintings, ornate sculptures, and works that come out of American, Latino, and uniquely based subcultures. His studio practice investigates pop culture, craft, ritual, beauty, and its relationship to art history, subculture, appropriation, and the institution. As a first-generation immigrant of Puerto Rican descent, the artist creates objects that examine the concepts of luxury and craft-making to explore questions of identity, integration, and aspiration. He often addresses his biography by melding memory and the imaginary with carefully crafted, hybrid works that are playfully situated between the contradictory worlds of conspicuous consumption and urban artifact. The artist often channels this approach with site-specific installation work, vivid large-scale paintings, and ornate sculptures in various materials, expanding on ideas of self-reflection and imagined luxury. The works ultimately produce a hybrid language of social practice, painting, and sculpture, inviting the viewer to engage in discourse and discussion.