Wanda Raimundi
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Bio

Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz is an interdisciplinary visual artist whose work pulls from 17th and 18th-century European portraiture, comic books, sketch comedy, folkloric dance, and installation to address race, bias, trauma, and healing. Her work has been featured in venues such as The Momentary, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum of Arts and Design, Garage Museum Moscow, Orlando Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; and at the Manifesta and Performa biennials. Numerous media outlets, including Art in America ArtNews, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, and The Washington Post have covered her work. She earned her MFA from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of Art and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She currently serves as a board member for the College Art Association where she’s committed to considering art as scholarship.

 
 
Wanda-Raimundi-Ortiz_Portrait.jpg

For me, controversy isn’t about instigation, but rather, a way to arrest your audience. It’s a way to plant a little bit of desire in their hearts; a yearning to turn the page and learn more about your idea. Ultimately, it’s about creating memorable images.

 
 
 

Artist Statement

I am deeply invested in race relations, critical race theory, and anti-blackness, especially within the Latinx community. These ideological collisions create social pressure cookers. As in nature, communities strive for harmonious co-existence but are often distorted and warped under societal and environmental pressures.  

For the past 25 years, I have been committed to presenting my observations on race bias, trauma, afro-Latinx concerns, urban futurism, and catharsis through my interdisciplinary practice. To do this, I’ve created murals, live performances, satirical videos, performance self-portraiture, and large scaled drawings, often creating immersive works that require some level of participation as an immediate register of the moment for the viewer. I draw inspiration from 17th and 18th-century European portraiture, comic books, sketch comedy giants like Carol Burnett, and Lucille Ball, and Puerto Rican folkloric dance as vehicles to deliver my messages.

 

Honors & Awards

  • 2023 Tribeca Film Festival Artist Program

  • 2023 Conrad Nelson Visiting Artist

  • UCF 2018 Woman of Distinction Award

  • UCF LIFE award

  • 2018 Research Incentive Award

  • 2017 UCF Luminary Award

  • 2016 Franklin Furnace Grant for performance

  • 2016 United States Artist Fellow nominee

  • UCF’s 2016 Woman Making History honoree

  • 2016 Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition semifinalist

  • 2015 Orlando Museum of Art Florida Prize in Contemporary Art finalist

  • 2013 Creative Capital “On Our Radar” honorable mention

  • 2011 UCF Keeper of the Creed Award in Creativity.

 

Selected Exhibitions

  • BIG HAPPY: A Momentary Utopia, 2023, The Momentary/Crystal Bridges Bentonville AK

  • Sanctuary: My Place in the World, 2023, Eckert Art Gallery, Millersville University, Lancaster PA

  • PRIZM Art Fair 2022, Art Basel Miami week, Miami, FL

  • Sanctuary, 2023 Hillsborough Community College, Tampa FL

  • Breathe into the Past: Crosscurrents in the Caribbean 2022, Colorado Springs Fine Art Center at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO

  • Rembrandt Reframed, Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum 2022, Florida International University, Miami, FL

  • Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art, Museum of Art & Design 2021, New York, NY

  • The Florida Prize in Contemporary Art, Orlando Museum of Art 2015

  • Identify: Performance as Portraiture series, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery 2017

  • Project 35: Last Call, Garage Museum, Moscow, Russia

  • Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain 2010

  • American Chambers, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwong City, South Korea 2011

  • Performa 05 biennial, Artist Space, NY

  • The S Files 05 and Artist in the Marketplace 25, Bronx Museum of the Arts

  • Gallery @ Hostos

  • The L Factor, Exit Art, New York

 

Education

  • Rutgers University Mason Gross School of Art, 2008

  • Ralph Bunche FellowAAS 1998 Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY

  • Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alum, 2002