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Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo
Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo
Club EXILE in Atlanta
August 24, 2023 – October 22, 2023
Club EXILE in Atlanta is a show of artwork by queer-identified, Cuban-American artist Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo (b. 1986, Miami, FL), who explores stained glass and mosaics through his practice. The Club EXILE project started as a response to the 2016 shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL, whose victims were primarily queer latino/as. As the project evolved, Club EXILE became a way of thinking through exile as a space that connects multiple identities of marginalized peoples. In this work, mirror mosaics (DISCOmosiacs) reference the disco ball and the dance floor, often articulated as a sacred space for the queer community. In the Atlanta Contemporary show, the old coal chute leading to the basement is transformed into an altar with portraits of the Pulse Nightclub and Club Q shooting victims surrounded by fabric flowers and devotional objects. Neons, a dichroic glass disco ball, DISCOmosaic wall pieces and sculptures reflect light around Chute Space. In the midst of different imagery throughout Club EXILE, the flying fish emerges as a symbol of queer hope - when a fish learns to fly to escape predation, blurring boundaries between sky and water in an almost supernatural way.
Presented by Forward Arts Foundation
Bio
Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo
Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo participates in multi-directional cultural traditions and investigates silenced histories to propose conditions for cross-identification. Stained glass channels both a sacred and Cuban-American heritage in his work. Speculative spaces implicate collective memory and hybrid identities; lyrical artworks navigate ideas of home, queerness, and displacement. Through architectural intervention, public art, performance, and object-based work he re-envisions traditions in stained glass, mosaic and light-based media.
Sebastian is a Miami based artist. He has exhibited artwork and created public projects in South Florida, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Latin America. He frequently collaborates with artists, architects, dancers, musicians and community partners. He holds a BA in Studio Art and Latin American Studies from Swarthmore College, a BFA in Painting and Art History from New World School of the Arts, and an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art .