I create mixed-media drawings, prints, and sculptures that preserve familial and cultural history through plants and iconographies. My process is experimental, combining found objects and narrative anecdotes to talk about displacement and my experience as a first-generation immigrant from Colombia. I often use enredaderas (entangled vines) as an archetype to metaphysically reference the Colombian diaspora. The enredaderas exist in a rural, green landscape with mountains and bodies of water to represent home. I am curious about rooting/uprooting these archetypes from their homes, making a direct parallel to the complexities of the immigrant experience. Through my practice, I ask questions such as: Can the body exist without it being visible? Can it form a relationship with the land it is rooted to or uprooted from? Can it extend and reach the grounds from which they migrated?
Artist Statement
Artist Bio
Bryan Montenegro is a first-generation, interdisciplinary artist from Colombia. Bryan graduated from Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts with a concentration in drawing and currently teaches at the Zimmerli Art Museum. He is a resident at Guttenberg Arts, and their artwork has been showcased at the Newark Arts Festival in the Newark Museum, the IceBox Project Space, the Mason Gross Gallery, the Bowery Art Collective, and Artistonish art magazine.