Sacrificio

July 22, 2022 - August 27, 2022

Monaco is pleased to present Sacrificio, a solo exhibition of works by Eric Rivera Barbeito (Richmond, VA) in the Project Space, organized and selected as a winning exhibition in the 2022 Monaco Open Call.

Please join us for an opening reception on Friday, July 22, from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibition will run through August 27, 2022, with viewings available on Saturdays from 12 to 4 p.m. and by appointment.

Sacrificio is a solo exhibition of works by Eric Rivera Barbeito that address the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. Growing out of the feeling of sacrifice and loss, this body of work references the United States’ imperial presence throughout the world, its contribution to the increasing severity of Climate Change, and the ongoing liquidation of the Puerto Rican state and displacement of native Puerto Ricans. With its presence throughout more than 80 countries around the world, the active military operations and energy use of the Department of Defense produces more greenhouse gases than entire industrialized nations. By its existence and continued expansion, the DOD contributes immensely to intensifying cataclysms that bring death and mass displacement, such as Hurricane Maria, which ravaged Puerto Rico in September 2017 and left the archipelago shattered and powerless for months. In the years since, Puerto Rico has seen an alarming rate of privatization and displacement, being bled off and auctioned wholesale to outside private interests while native Puerto Ricans are forced out the island.

With this frame of reference, Rivera Barbeito’s works begin from a sense of longing and love for a place that is already feeling the ravages of intensified natural disasters and the colonial policies that increase the archipelago’s vulnerability to said cataclysms. Sacrificio reaches into the toil, the sweat, and the broken hearts of those that leave the island, because they cannot bear the brunt of an unending colonial relationship that has made a mockery of people's livelihoods. It seethes with internalized anger, as those who sacrifice their beloved home for a better standard of living, are in turn being offered up by the neoliberal machinery that churns in Washington, DC. Sacrificio is a reflection on what we stand to lose, both within the scope of Puerto Rico and globally, and what we can do to save it.

For all inquiries and appointments please contact: Monaco at info@monacomonaco.us, IG: @monaco_usa

BIOS

Eric Rivera Barbeito (b. 1994) integrates a multidisciplinary practice to highlight concepts describing Puerto Rico’s social-political relationship with the United States. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2017, and relocated to Richmond, VA, where he currently lives and works. Rivera Barbeito was an Artist-in-Residence at the Vermont Studio Center and ACRE, and has been included in group exhibitions at Towson University, School 33, Terrault Contemporary and Tiger Strikes Asteroid Philadelphia. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond.

For all inquiries and appointments please contact: Monaco at info@monacomonaco.us, IG: @monaco_usa