Carlos Salazar-Lermont
that immigrants experience in the United States. The piece was filmed when the
Venezuelan artist was expecting his delayed Employment Authorization Document.
At the time, the American economy was rebounding from the COVID-19 crisis. This
effervescence was reflected in a sudden and unexpected surge of jobs in the
United States. Unable to work legally, the artist filmed himself standing in front
of multiple fast-food businesses’ “now hiring” signs in St. Louis, MO, doing
all that he could do about it: nothing. The images in the video move to the
rhythm and melody of an electronic version of El Norte es una Quimera, a
traditional merengue caraqueño song from the 1920’s that speaks about
the hardships of immigrating to the US. The cover of this centennial song was
conceived and produced specifically for this project by Carlos Salazar-Lermont
and interpreted by renowned musician Andrea Ludovic. Originally thought as a
3-channel video installation, the version displayed in Carlos Salazar-Lermont’s
solo show at Bruno David Gallery is a single-channel adaptation to be displayed
on a large TV screen.