The importance of belonging

Duality dominates the bilingual exhibition Belonging / Pertenecer at City Gallery East this fall. Works by 10 Latino artists based in Atlanta, New York and Miami recall the poignancy of acculturation through painting, collage, sculpture, photography, masks and totemic objects.

While many contemporary artists have abandoned explicit ethnic themes in favor of more universal concerns, these artmakers show that there is still a personal and collective need to examine assimilation. Curators Florencia Bazzano-Nelson and Karen Comer selected art that skirts social commentary and, instead, dwells on the spiritual and psychological effects of being an outsider.

Colorful guardian angel paintings by Panama-born Arturo Lindsay illustrate a liaison with the Catholic faith and a Latino aesthetic. At the same time, small bundles with feathers attached at the heart of his regal figures recall African spiritualism. In the context of this show, Alejandro Aguilera’s patterned black drawings made of coffee stains and ink perhaps represent literal and metaphoric layers in his Cuban background. Born in Puerto Rico, Marina Gutierrez creates and assembles colorful body masks that explore assumed identities of the immigrant. Gloria Rodriguez embellishes magazine collages that examine the socialization of the fractured self.

Mario Petrirena personalizes those ideas with his wall-mounted installation. “Yo, Yo Mismo, y Yo (Me, Myself, and I)” spans two facing walls. Petrirena’s fragmented Cuban identity is explored through photographic self-portrait collages, cast hands and found objects assembled in a dream-like array. Manuel Llaneras, another Cuban-born artist, returned to his home country to capture nostalgic, even romantic photo images of a present-day Cuba where time seems to have stood still and waited for his return.

Belonging / Pertenecer continues through Nov. 8 at City Gallery East, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave. Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 1-5 p.m. 404-817-7956.??