Whitehot Recommends: Ruben Natal San-Miguel / American Beauty at Gary Marotta Fine Art

Ruben Natal San-Miguel, Ivana (Most Hated), 2019 East Harlem, NYC. Dye sublimation on aluminum 24 x 24 inches, edition of 3

Ruben Natal San-Miguel / American Beauty
Friday July 2nd and Saturday July 3rd, 7-9pm
Gary Marotta Fine Art

162 commercial street
provincetown, ma
 

By WM July, 2021

The environmental photography of Ruben Natal San-Miguel in essence is primordial in nature. American Beauty, focused on environmental portraiture captures the truth as the genre suggests. 

Ruben's passion for every interaction with his unsuspecting turned willing participants is palpable in his photographs. Emotions stir viewing these heartfelt images of true American Beauty.

Current exhibitions include Coney Island: Last Stop by Rubennatal.Sanmiguel on display now at the Barclay’s Center / Atlantic Yards port of the MTA NYC Subway Art & Design Lightbox Project and The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center. Virtual exhibits of Women Are Beautiful during the pandemic include The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC. and Postmasters Gallery, NYC. Ruben’s image entitled “Toilet Paper Hoarder” Harlem, NYC graced the cover of the New York Times on May 26, 2020 capturing a window of an apartment building stacked full height with rolls of TP.
 

Ruben Natal San-Miguel, Black On White, White On Black '' ( Brian ) 2018, Roosevelt Island, NYC. Dye sublimation on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches, edition of 3

Artists Statement:

American Beauty

America has a culturally accepted norm of what makes someone beautiful. A standard that is hard to meet. Being light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed is the benchmark of beauty, of what is most desirable. ... These theories also help explain why certain physical attributes are more valuable in American society.

America has a culturally accepted norm of what makes someone beautiful. A standard that is hard to meet. Being light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed is the benchmark of beauty, of what is most desirable. But is that really what it takes to be attractive in America? This research examines the relationship between race, birth-place, ethnicity and self-rated attractiveness. The General Social Survey (2016) provides the quantitative data for this study. While past literature explores the connections between identity, self-esteem, and attractiveness, it does not explore the intersection of different identifying characteristics. Group position and Colourism approaches provide the theoretical foundations for the hypothesis and the research conducted in this paper. These theories also help explain why certain physical attributes are more valuable in American society. So how does the privileging of White America, specifically when measuring beauty, influence one’s opinion of their own attractiveness? This study has 1,622 respondents—non-institutionalized, English or Spanish speaking adults, who live in the country. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the individual and collaborative relationships between the variables. The results from this study concur with some of findings from the literature. Yet, they do not support the hypotheses. The results concluded that being Non-White had little influence on one's self-rated attractiveness. Similarly, birthplace and ethnicity had no statistical significance. However, the controls, age and sex, are significant. This research explores the role identity plays in one’s view of their own beauty. Especially during a period of controversial leadership and drastic shifts in the social norms

Ruben Natal San-Miguel, The Kiss, 2019 The Bronx, NYC. Dye sublimation on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches, edition of 3

Ruben Natal San-Miguel, Erica (Cyclone), 2020, Coney Island, Brooklyn, NYC. Dye sublimation on aluminum, 20 x 16 inches, edition of 3
 

Ruben Natal San-Miguel, Sky & Zachariah, 2019, The Bronx, NYC Dye sublimation on aluminum, 16 x 20 inches, edition of 3
 

Ruben Natal San-Miguel, Zach, 2020 Coney Island, Brooklyn, NYC. Dye sublimation on aluminum, 12 x 12 inches, edition of 3
 

Ruben Natal San-Miguel, Nykki, (It All Comes Out In The Wash), 2019 East Harlem, NYC. Dye sublimation on aluminum, 16 x 20 inches, edition of 3

RUBEN NATAL-SAN MIGUEL is an architect, fine art photographer, curator, creative director and critic. His stature in the photo world has earned him awards, features in major media, countless exhibitions and collaborations with photo icons such as Magnum Photographer Susan Meiselas. Gallery shows include: Asya Geisberg, SoHo Photo, Rush Arts, Finch & Ada, Kris Graves Projects, Fuchs Projects, WhiteBox Gallery, Station Independent Projects Gallery, LMAK Gallery, Postmasters Gallery Rome & NYC and others. His work has been featured in numerous institutions: The New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Griffin Museum of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, African American Museum of Philadelphia, The Makeshift Museum in Los Angeles, University of Washington, El Museo del Barrio, Studio museum of Harlem, The Museo Of The City of NY, Fitchburg Museum of Art, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Mint Museum, NC., The Musée De La Civilization, Quebec ,Canada and Phillips Auction House , Aperture Foundation, Rockefeller Center, NYC and a most recent Art & Design Lightbox Commission Project for the Metropolitan Transit Authority NYC Subway at Barclay’s Center , Brooklyn, NYC.

International art fair representation includes: Outsider Art Fair, SCOPE, PULSE, Art Chicago, Zona Maco, Mexico, Lima Photo, Peru and Photo LA. and Filter Photo Festival in Chicago Ill. His photography has been published in a long list of publications, highlights: New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Time OUT, Aperture, Daily News, OUT, American Photo, ARTFORUM, VICE, Musee, ARTnet and The New Yorker, PBS and NPR. In 2016, Ruben’s Marcy’s Playground was selected for both the Billboard Collective and website for Apple. His photographs are in the permanent collections of El Museo Del Barrio in NYC, The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC., The Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY, The Contemporary Collection of the Mint Museum Charlotte, North Carolina, The Bronx Museum for the Arts, School of Visual Arts, NYC, The Fitchburg Museum of Art, Massachusetts, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, The Studio Museum of Harlem and The Museum of The City of NY.