The Key

La llave / la clave [The Key] is a project that evidences the links between album covers produced in Puerto Rico and New York between the 50s and 80s, and the visual culture and historical dynamics that informed them: music, videos, images of the world of art and advertising, syncretism and religion.

Tony Cruz Pabón
Díselo Mon
2016
Graphite on paper
13 1⁄2” X 11”
Courtesy of the artist

The project’s inception was in 2006, and was formalized in 2011 as an artist talk. Currently, the project consists of an illustrated talk, an installation, a collection of LP records, a publication, a video, and music playlists.

To access the playlists, click here.

Tony Cruz Pabón
Five records - LP- by Ismael Rivera (detail)
Intaglio
2012
IA/P
11 3/4” X 11 3/4”
Courtesy of the artist

Tony Cruz Pabón
Five records - LP- by Ismael Rivera (detail)
2012
Embossed print
A/P
11 3/4” X 11 3/4”
Courtesy of the artist

In this iteration of La llave / la clave, carried out within the framework of the Taller Vivo [Live Workshop] program, the publication was reedited and an additional component will be developed: a recording studio as functional sculpture. In it, sound pieces will be developed in a radio program format, in which the artist and his guests will discuss music and its visual landscape.

Tony Cruz Pabón
The Key (Recording Booth)
2021
Instalación / Installation
Courtesy of the artist

A collaboration with Joel Rodriguez Vargas. Pa la luna is a collage of music, sounds, and conversations, product of Tony Cruz Pabon's Taller Vivo at the MAC. It is a sound-space and speculative trip that parts from salsa cover arts and songs that insist on arriving to the terrestrial satellite.

Listen to the podcast here.

Along with the pieces that make up La llave / la clave, other works on paper complete the musical set of works in the exhibition.

Tony Cruz Pabón
Propuesta #64 (Cortijo and Ismael)
2008-2009
Serigrafía y grafito sobre papel / Silkscreen and graphite on paper
23” x 17”
Courtesy of the artist

Proposal submitted by the artist to the open call 100 proposals for a new museum, made in the context of the publication of the Carta Abierta al MAC [Open Letter to the MAC] in 2008. Within the framework of this exhibition, a specific educational program has been developed for students of the Rafael M. De Labra School.

La llave / la clave is a non-academic investigation into the cultural imaginary that makes up a good part of the evolution of salsa as a musical genre and all that it has meant in Puerto Rico and diasporic populations in New York.

In this way, Tony Cruz Pabón's research unfolds in many ways before a generous audience that is willing to enjoy it.

Tony Cruz Pabón
The Key (Video)
2018
Video
11:14 min Loop
Courtesy of the artist