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Tony Velez In 1966, unsure of his life’s direction but desperate for a change, he volunteered for the United States Army and served in Vietnam, with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he experienced and documented the horrors of an inexplicable and unjust war. These early experiences laid the foundation for his future work as an artist. Seeking to understand the war and its implications and relevance to his own life, he joined “Vietnam Veterans Against The War”, as a participant and photographer. Velez's earliest experiences of violence in his home, in the streets of the city, and the war in Viet Nam have shaped his vision as an artist and photographer. A war veteran at twenty years old, he slowly developed an attitude of resistance and became an activist against the war, as he saw his younger brothers, family members, and friends go off to war. Some did not come back; some came back hurt. Philosophically and emotionally his work is an expression of his ongoing struggle that attempts to come to terms with his past. His earlier political activism, and his optimism have helped him to channel his confusion and anger into productive art work as his photographs express a humanist point of view that rejects the racism, and brutality of our society. Velez consistently seeks a more dignified view of our world through his work His projects have connected him to his community, the Latino communities of New York and New Jersey. His first major work was a three- year project with a Hispanic theater group, “Teatro Cuatro” from East Harlem. Other projects and series include work from Cuba, the former Soviet Union and East Germany. The Brooklyn Historical Society’s first major exhibit showed 45 of Velez’s photographs, which were reproduced in a publication on Hispanic Brooklyn. In 1990, Velez was commissioned by the Fund for the Borough of Brooklyn to participate in documenting a celebration of the first 25 years of landmark preservation efforts in New York City. The outcome was a book and exhibition “This is Brooklyn: Its’ Historical Districts and Landmarks”, permanently on display in Brooklyn Borough Hall. Velez is a recipient of numerous awards that include artist fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a N.Y.S. C.A.P.S , the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the New Jersey Historical Commission. Since 1994, Velez has received numerous commissioned projects from the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark, N.J., and has twice been a panelist for the New York Foundation for the Arts. His work has been exhibited and collected widely by El Museo del Barrio, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Municipal Art Society, The Bronx Museum of Art, and by The New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey Historical Societies. In order to accomplish the quality and the depth his work evokes, Velez spends time getting to know his subjects. He joins them in their celebrations, grieving and traditions and is trusted enough to take the positive and intimate photographs he has produced and is known for. He joined the Photographer’s Forum in 1973, which was an outgrowth of the Photo League of the 1930’s and 40’s, and began to study at Brooklyn College in 1973. It was there, after finishing a baccalaureate in anthropology, that he entered the Fine Arts Master’s Program in 1979. This solidified his skills, point of view and passion, and allowed him to work closer with Walter Rosenblum, his mentor and teacher, who has had a great influence upon his dedication to positive portrayals in his art, of the human condition in the social documentary style. Since 1987 he has taught photography in the Fine Arts Department at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, in the rank of Professor (full), where he Co-ordinates the “Arts Dialogue”, an artists lecture series, and the B.F.A. Photography program. His work has been published nationally and locally numerous times in books, newspapers, journals, calendars and commentaries, portraying architecture, street portraits, and intimate photographs based on long and developed relationships with various artists, communities, their leaders, and residents. Within the past year, Velez’s work has been in the New York Historical Society’ new exhibition “ Family Matters” and in March at the Kenkeleba Gallery in New York’s Lower East Side. This past Fall (2001) semester his work was included in El Museo del Barrio’s exhibition ”Voices From Our Communities”, and he has completed a major project for the New Jersey Historical Society on exhibit this fall for the following year. Velez’s work was also in a group exhibit at Rutgers’ Mason- Gross School of the Arts, in addition, a solo exhibition for St. Francis College, in Brooklyn Heights.Above all, he is committed to his art work, depicting family, friends, and all people with dignity and optimism. |
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