Bruno David presents Esperando A Dios (EAD) v.01, a video work by Venezuelan-born multi-disciplinary artist Carlos Salazar-Lermont. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Esperando A Dios (EAD) v.01 (2022-23) is a sardonic view on the marginalization 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 TV screen.
Carlos Salazar-Lermont received his MFA in Visual Arts from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis as a Danforth Scholar (2022); and a Dual MA in Arts Administration & Policy and Modern and Contemporary Art History in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, with the support of the New Artists Society Full Tuition scholarship. Salazar-Lermont’s work has been exhibited internationally in museums, institutions, and galleries in over a dozen countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, England, Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, the United States, and Venezuela. He is based in Chicago and St. Louis and is a part-time Lecturer at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
