Exuberant shapes and colors have informed Pepón Osorio’s world view ever since he was a child, living in a working-class neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the 1960s, his mother was a baker who concocted towering frosted creations in the family kitchen. Then there were the clothes of the Catholic Yoruba saints in the street; the vibrant, tropical atmosphere; the beaches; and the colorful consumer goods which suddenly populated shelves. Osorio moved to the South Bronx in 1975, where he was a caseworker for child services before he began designing theater sets. As an installation artist, his significant immersive environments begin in the 1990s—the point of departure for this exhibition at the New Museum, his largest show to date. Installations across five floors explore Osorio’s recurring themes—fragility, resilience. —Elena Clavarino