Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
312-280-2660
Chicago
UBS 12 x 12 Presents Edra Soto
June 6-28, 2009
Feminine power and its role in popular culture are explored through the lens of Iris Chacon, the charismatic Puerto Rican performer who starred in the 1970s variety television show El Show de Iris Chacon. Artist Edra Soto’s childhood memories of watching Chacon in Puerto Rico inspired her to re- examine female sexuality and how this celebrity’s image translates into American culture. Soto presents a large hand-crafted stage and drawings inspired by El Show de Iris Chacon.
Iris Chacon was an iconic celebrity in Puerto Rico and despite sexually provocative costumes and performances, she was a popular family entertainer. In a reversal of traditional male/female roles, Chacon produced and choreographed the show and used men dressed in gorilla suits as her backup dancers. Soto is intrigued by what Chacon’s legacy means for women today even if they have no previous knowledge about her.
Chacon was also known as La Bomba Puertoriquena, La Chacon, The Caribbean Queen, La Vedette de America, and The Latin Bombshell. |
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Iris Chacón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. At an early age she demonstrated an inclination for the arts when she began studies in ballet and jazz. She continued her education and attended the University of Puerto Rico.. As a young college student, she launched her professional career in television as a model and dancer. She continued her voice and dancing lessons and after a careful preparation, was launched as a "vedette", a term used in Europe to define a multi-talented performer. She was the first Hispanic entertainer to ever appear on the front page of the well-known newspaper The Wall Street Journal. With her own variety show, she conquered not only her native Puerto Rico television audience, but the top ratings during prime time television for over 15 years in such markets as New York, Miami and Chicago.
Soto invited over 30 artists to create portraits of her with the aid of two photographs: one of herself and one of a gorilla. The effect is something like the creation of mythological creatures, half human, half beast- blurring reality, memory, and interpretation.
The stage, situated in the middle of the gallery, consumes much of the floor space. A drawing of El Show de Iris Chacon and a photograph from the show are hung on opposite walls of the stage. When viewers walk behind the stage, they find benches and the many portrait drawings of Soto created by her friends.
Soto received her BFA from the Escuela de Artes Plasticas de Puerto Rico in 1994 and received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000. She leads a gallery talk about her exhibit on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at 6:30 pm. |
