Ronny Quevedo, Pacha Cosmopolitanism Overtime
Pacha Cosmopolitanism Overtime is a work by Ronny Quevedo that explores the parallels between local and international migration and movement in sports. To Quevedo, sports are a way of celebrating and making space for oneself, where rules are malleable and transform over time. Sports have allowed him to connect with his ancestry in Ecuador and maintain some semblance of identity while feeling pressure to conform as an immigrant. Quevedo, who grew up in the Bronx, often accompanied his father (who played for a professional soccer team in Ecuador) at games he refereed throughout the city.
Quevedo’s soccer-infused past inspired his artwork at LaGuardia which reimagines a wooden gym floor mounted on a wall. The painted lines that denote the free-throw line and half-court are distorted abstractly to reveal New York’s diverse communities and its constant changes. An important element of the artwork is the use of gold and silver leaf for stellar constellations, which comments on a sense of resiliency among migrants who move like the stars. Quevedo has had solo exhibitions at the Queens Museum, the James Fuentes Gallery, and the Rubber Factory, among other places in New York. He has also been featured at The Whitney, Socrates Sculpture Park, and the Museum of Modern Art. His new work at LaGuardia relates to his previous installation “There is no halftime,” which was at the Queens Museum and had a similar design and theme.