Adrián Román Wins the Outwin 2016 People’s Choice Award

Portrait Competition Artist’s “Caja de Memoria” Wins Award
October 3, 2016
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Three-dimensional cube featuring woman's face

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The votes are in: the National Portrait Gallery’s The Outwin 2016 People’s Choice Award goes to Adrián Román for his work “Caja de Memoria Viva II.” Voters made their pick for the award in the exhibition and online, exploring virtual tours of the exhibition, interviews with artists and jurors and inside information about the finalists. This competition received the most votes ever tallied for the People’s Choice Award.

“Caja de Memoria” portrays Constancia Colón de Clemente, a black Puerto Rican woman who immigrated to the United States in the 1940s. The three-dimensional hanging multimedia installation allows the viewer to literally step inside Constancia’s head. Roman said this portrait and others like it allow him to “embark on a quest to visually represent how precious our memories are and capture the dignity in the people’s struggle and validate their existence.” His installations explore migration, race and identity through memories of “observed and experienced events, repressed trauma and childhood.”

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is a triennial event that invites figurative artists to submit entries in all media to be considered for prizes and display at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition, titled “The Outwin 2016,” opened March 12. The endowment from the late Virginia Outwin Boochever enables the museum to conduct a national portrait competition and exhibition that encourages artists to explore the art of portraiture.

After the exhibition closes Jan. 8, 2017, in Washington, D.C., it will travel for the first time to three host museums across the country from February 2017 through January 2018.

National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the multifaceted story of America through the individuals who have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story.

The National Portrait Gallery is part of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture at Eighth and F streets N.W., Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000. Website: npg.si.edu. Connect with the museum at @NPG, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Tumblr.

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Bethany Bentley

202-633-8293

bentleyb@si.edu