“Meet the Artist”
Charles Biasiny-Rivera
February 23, 2023
5:30 – 7:30 pm
474 Broadway, Kingston, NY
On Thursday, February 23, we will be joined by Charles Biasiny-Rivera, legendary Bronx street photographer and co-founder of the collective En Foco, for “Meet the Artist” night at CPW. Biasiny-Rivera will discuss his prolific career as well as current projects. This talk will be live-streamed on CPW’s Facebook page just before the start time.
Join us every Thursday evening at CPW, when we host illuminating talks with local and visiting artists. “Meet the Artist” allows the public to get to know new work, to hear about artistic processes, and to meet friends and other local artists. The evening takes place at CPW’s gallery at 474 Broadway in Kingston, NY. It is free and open to the public. Coffee, tea, and snacks are served. “Meet the Artist” is made possible by a generous grant from the Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation.
Charles Biasiny-Rivera is a Puerto Rican photographer, curator, and writer who was born in the Bronx, New York in 1930. He is best known for co-founding the groundbreaking community-based organization En Foco, which began as a collective of Puerto Rican photographers committed to producing exhibitions, publications, and public events that focused on the culturally based imagery emanating from the enclaves and neighborhoods of New York City, then a little farther upstate, in the early seventies. Biasiny-Rivera went on to become the executive director of En Foco, Inc., which went on to publish Nueva Luz, an innovative journal of photographic portfolios of artists from diverse backgrounds.
Biasiny-Rivera became intrigued with photography as an adolescent, as he was curious about how things worked and were made. He officially learned photography and darkroom printing while in service to the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict, where he photographed events, portraits, and the aftermath of war. Biasiny-Rivera also did a stint photographing community theater around the world, from India to Bali and throughout Europe.
An early career highlight was his role as a photographic assistant for the renowned celebrity photographer Cecil Beaton, which included organizing and preparing for photographic shoots in New York City when Beaton came to town from England. Biasiny-Rivera often-times used his own camera and equipment and became very knowledgeable about lighting and the nuances of photographing people. Biasiny-Rivera earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography and Latin American Studies from SUNY/Empire State College, in 1990.
Through two pivotal artist residencies at Light Work, New York, then Belagio/Rockefeller Foundation, Italy, in the nineties, Biasiny-Rivera created composites of black and white photographs that he hand-colored and embellished with intricate borders, along with soulful poetry hand-written in ink, in the manner of the prayer cards found throughout Latin America. (BWB, 2023)
Top Image: Charles Biasiny-Rivera, P.S. 188 Elementary School, NYC 1975. Courtesy El Museo del Barrio, New York.