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Tony Capellán

Mar Caribe [Carribean Sea]

Maker

Tony Capellán (Dominican, 1955–2017

Title

Mar Caribe [Carribean Sea]

Year

1996

Medium

  • Plastic and rubber sandals with barbed wire

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Plastic and rubber sandals with barbed wire

Materials

plastic, rubber, barbed wire

Dimensions

Dimensions variable

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

2005.10

Type

  • Sculpture

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 15: Green

RISD Museum’s Manual 15 Celebrates Green

New life is always shown to us through mokingpu, the color green-the light green stems of rabbitbrush, one of the few colors seen the winter; the tender green shoots of new corn that emerge in the spring against the backdrop of the dry brown earth. Green offers hope. Green represents life.

-Susan Sekaquaptewa

A welcome splash of color after a long winter, the RISD Museum’s fifteenth issue of Manual is awash in shades of green, celebrating the color's myriad associations with nature and growth, environmentalism and sustainable practices, newness and hope (as well as poison and currency) and delving into the histories of specific pigments and processes. Manual 15 opens with an introductory essay by Hopi grower Susan Sekaquaptewa, who details the soft hues of the flora of Northern Arizona. “You appreciate plants more when you develop a relationship with them,” she explains.

This issue of Manual is supported in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional generous support is provided by the RISD Museum Associates and Sotheby’s.

Exhibition History

Everyday Things
Contemporary Works from the Collection
Apr 13, 2012 – Feb 24, 2013

Label copy

Tony Capellán collected these commonly worn sandals along the bank of the Ozama River in Santo Domingo where they had washed up. The toe strap from each flip-flop has been replaced with barbed wire, transforming this footwear into a symbol of political and economic hardship and undercutting the stereotypical view of the Caribbean Islands as a tropical paradise.

Nature/Artifice
Contemporary Works from the Collection
Apr 25, 2009 – Feb 28, 2010

Label copy

Arranged in a grid on the gallery floor, the hundreds of used flip-flops in Mar Caribe create a blue and green expanse reminiscent of the surface of the Caribbean Sea. The artist collected these sandals, which are commonly worn in the Dominican Republic, along the banks of the Ozama River in Santo Domingo, where they had washed up. A closer look reveals a jarring detail that belies the postcard beauty the piece mimics: the toe strap from each flip-flop has been replaced with barbed wire. Through the artist’s intervention, this ordinary footwear becomes a symbol of social, economic, and political hardship, undercutting the stereotype of Caribbean countries as secluded tropical paradises.

Island Nations
New Art from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico
Oct 29, 2004 – Jan 20, 2005

Label copy

The bright-blue flip-flops were collected by the artist after they had washed up along the Ozama River as it passes through the city of Santo Domingo. A closer look reveals that these sandals - intimate artifacts of the tropical urban poor - are symbolic of societal and economic ills; the artist has replaced the rubber toe straps with barbed wire.

Las brillantes sandalias azules que componen esta instalación fueron recogidas por el artista a las orillas del río Ozama en Santo Domingo después de haber sido arrastradas por la corriente. Vistas desde cerca, se descubre que estas sandalias, artefactos íntimos de la población urbana pobre del trópico, funcionan como iconos del dolor social, puesto que el artista ha sustituido las correas de hule de las sandalias por alambre de púas.

Courtesy of the artis

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Tony Capellán (Dominican, 1955–2017
b. Dominican Republic)
Mar Caribe [Carribean Sea], 1996
Plastic and rubber sandals with barbed wire
Dimensions variable
Mary B. Jackson Fund 2005.10

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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