Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

Firelei Báez

Apr 16 – May 10, 2020

Firelei Báez has always looked toward change. As she told Whitehot magazine in 2016, “Nothing should be constant. Growing up as an urban nomad—willfully believing that change was going to happen and that it was going to be positive—in a way, it just gives hope. The only way to keep oneʼs agency is to have hope.” Báez overlays imagery—symbolic, mythic—on historical maps and documents, creating brave new worlds that still acknowledge old-world spirits. Large-scale works are wondrously elemental, and then there are her miniature book-plate pieces. Positive energy abounds. —E.C.

Firelei Báez, Untitled (Le Jeu Du Monde), 2020 © Firelei Báez 2020. Image courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York. Photo: Dan Bradica.