Bio
Isaiah Rivera (Born New York, New York, 1994) is an American printmaking artist. He received his BFA from Purchase College, SUNY in 2021. His prints share futuristic subject matter, and vary in printmaking medium. The most recent mediums he works in are screen print, and woodcut, but has also created etchings and lithographs. His work depicts figures in action against dark or black backgrounds. His work also often depicts clouds and figures utilizing futuristic technology and light as a source of energy. He currently lives in New York City, and works in the private sector in art collections management, as well as a freelance printer in the NYC area.
The Statement
While completing his BFA at SUNY Purchase College in 2021, Isaiah became entranced with printmaking, and practiced the medium exclusively. This body of work illustrates futuristic figures called cyborgs, depicted through the use of various printmaking processes. He draws inspiration from science-fiction cinema, American comics, anime, anatomical illustrations, and old master printmakers. These cyborgs attempt to pull out the viewer's sensations relating to exploration, uncertainty, and discovery. Occasionally alluding to Christian religious iconography via anatomical gestures, he realizes cyborg’s that are puissant, and celestial, however partial in their completion. With thoughts of design, function, capability, and practicality each cyborg utilizes their technology to manipulate light to navigate & discover through darkness, which represents the unknown future.
CV
Education:
2021 BFA in Printmaking, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY
Exhibitions:
2024 Distant View of the Blue, Metropolitan Art Atelier, Art on Paper New York, New York (Group Exhibition)
2024 About Printmaking, Washington Art Association, Washington, CT (Curated by Anthony Kirk)
2023 Mapping Reality, Culturally Arts Collective (Virtual group exhibition)
2023 Artists on Fire, Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA (Group exhibition)
2023 Cyborgs in the Dark, Rio II Gallery, NYC (Solo exhibition)
2021. BFA Senior Show, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY
2021 Cyborgs in the Dark, Forum Art Space, Purchase, NY
2020 2020 Views: Seeing Through Uncertainty, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY
2020 New Prints 2020/ Give Me Space, Juried exhibibtion curated by Chitra Ganesh, International Print Center, New York
2015 Student Show Fine Arts Gallery, Valhalla, NY
2014 Student Show Fine Arts Gallery, Valhalla, NY
Grants, Awards:
2021 Outstanding Senior Award in Printmaking, Purchase College, Purchase, NY
2020 New Prints Artist Development Program, New York
Press:
2021 No Posters? No Problem!, The Performing Arts Center, SUNY, Purchase College, NY
Collections:
2023 In the Collection of Kathy Caraccio, NYC