NEW YORK, NY.- El Museo del Barrio announces the appointment of its new Executive Director, Patrick Charpenel. Charpenel brings an extensive range of curatorial experiences, with a track record of advancing international education in and reception of Latin American art and culture. He has produced exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Miami, and Mexico that explore the complexities and cultural forms of Hispanic and Latino artistic expression. Having led the development of publications with American and Latin American distribution, and having spoken at countless academic roundtable discussions on art and culture, Charpenel is a contributor to and influencer in the discourse surrounding the development of a nuanced understanding of contemporary Latin America.
As Executive Director of El Museo, Charpenel will be responsible for amplifying the museum's local, national, and international stature in the art world; enhancing educational programming; strengthening exhibitions speaking to themes of Latino and Latin American art in the 21st century; setting the financial priorities of the institution and expanding fundraising efforts.
Charpenel brings an exciting twenty-first century vision to El Museo, and he looks forward to positioning the institution on an international scale and continuing to develop high-impact public programming that shapes it as a platform for the best of modern and contemporary Latino and Latin American art. He says, "The political, economic, and social context in Latin America has marked our artists' sensibilities, yielding unique works that are of universal interest, but that in many cases have not been part of the global art narrative." He believes El Museo to have the strength to present Latino and Latin American art's diversity, singularity, and richness to a broad audience.
El Museo is thrilled to have Charpenel join the institution's leadership. Chairperson of the Board of El Museo del Barrio, Maria Eugenia Maury said, "We are delighted that Patrick Charpenel will join El Museo del Barrio as our new Executive Director. Patrick will be a dynamic and visionary leader. I am personally pleased that Patrick is dedicated both to the original mission of El Museo, to contribute to the vibrant cultural life of New York's "Barrio", and to bringing the best of Latino and Latin American art to our city. His expansive and inclusive outlook will position the institution to be a center of growth and innovation in the museum world. We expect his leadership to herald a new era for El Museo del Barrio and to serve as an inspiration for El Barrio, New York City, and the global community. We express our profound gratitude to the Ford Foundation for their support of our search for our new Executive Director."
Artist, current board member, and Chairman Emeritus of the Board Tony Bechara notes that "Patrick is a proven leader and an energetic visionary. His extensive global reach and his commitment to the core values of El Museo will be transformative."
The museum's Director Emerita, Susana Torruella Leval, says, "Patrick Charpenel is part of a brilliant new generation of curators with global vision. At the same time, his love and respect for regional history and concern for social justice are particularly relevant as he prepares to lead El Museo del Barrio into the twenty-first century."
Patrick Charpenel (b. Guadalajara, Mexico, 1967) lives and works in Mexico City. A philosopher by training, Charpenel has worked intensively as a curator and collector, highlighting the paradoxes and ambiguities of the contemporary world. Prior to his appointment at El Museo, Charpenel served as Director of Mexico City's Museo Jumex. He has presented several exhibitions in various forums within and outside Mexico, including Franz West: Elefante Blanco at the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; the retrospective Gabriel Orozco at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; the Art Public section of the 2009 and 2010 editions of Art Basel Miami Beach; 10.2 International Artists-in-Residence, 2010 edition, at Artpace San Antonio, Texas; and the Botanical Garden art project in Culiacan, Mexico. He has published critical essays in specialized journals, and served as a Council Member for the Centre Pompidou-Latin America, Paris, France in 2010. His private collection consists of a heterogeneous group of works; however, it is organized around certain lines of research, such as telematic phenomena, the structure of the global economy, and the extension of artistic experience into the social sphere.
