Entering the Underground

Comments (0) By S. Pajot Thursday, Jul 15 2010

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Taking public transit is traumatizing enough without having to watch a man dismembered on the tracks. But in Puerto Rican artist Teo Freytes's comic book Estampa Niuyorquina (Image of New York), a blue-collar laborer finishes work for the day, only to have his subway ride interrupted by a suicidal jumper. "All of a sudden, he hears a thump and screaming," Freytes explains. "He looks around, and he sees the place scattered with sausages and ketchup. Then he notices something on the floor that looks like a pumpkin, but he realizes it's a man's head." The artist continues, "He gets a taxi, thinking about how New York has this horrible smell of work, blood, and guts. And he leaves crying."

For the split show “A Fragmented Anomaly” at Edge Zones, Freytes has reprinted pages from Estampa Niuyorquina and produced a $200 limited-edition version of the book, packaged with three signed miniposters. Now through July 31, his prints will hang alongside 14 deconstructionist experiments by Miami-based collagist Luis Padreda. The two are close friends, and Freytes identifies the link between their work as a shared use of pre-existing magazine and web images. The process is different, but the foundation is the same.
Tuesdays-Saturdays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: July 10. Continues through July 31, 2010