arts
Folk saints, scarecrows and sea monsters (And other reasons to visit Artpace this winter) BY BRYAN RINDFUSS
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amously likened by late founder Linda Pace to a “laboratory of dreams,” the Artpace International Artist-in-Residence program encourarchive to life in sculptures reinterpreting the ages participants to take creative risks. aerodynamic female figures that adorn the Although a guest curator assembles each hoods of Cadillacs and Rolls-Royces. While trio of artists who participate in the program Hoen’s reimagined chrome goddesses make purposefully — one from Texas, one from an appearance at Artpace, they play a supelsewhere in the U.S. and one from abroad porting role to “body-sized” sculptures that — common ground is never a given. That humanize everyday objects — a banister, a unpredictability only adds to the suspense table and a school desk — with large wooden that builds before a trio of openings, and it braids resembling ponytails. makes the conversations between creators During the walkthrough of her “Folding, and creations even more compelling. Floating, Falling,” Hoehn likened the braids Organized by guest curator Natalie Bell to appendages or armor that might protect of MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, the fall 2021 her hybrid, furniture-like forms. edition unites Dan Herschlein (Brooklyn), “A lot of the work that I’ve done almost Shana Hoehn (Texarkana) and Naufus unconsciously ends up feeling a little bit Ramírez-Figueroa (Guatemala City). During like a sea creature … or a sea a recent media preview, Artmonster,” she said, addresspace Director Riley Robinson Fall 2021 ing a nautilus-shaped object applauded Bell for her strong International enhanced with two long support of makers. While it’s Artist-in-Residence braids. true that the three artists Bell Exhibitions invited are deft fabricators, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, their methods and intentions ‘Plane and Sane’ noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday are wildly different. “All three artists impressed While Hoehn conjures Artpace, 445 N. Main Ave., me with the ways they interhaunted furniture and (210) 212-4900, artpace.org. pret and transform what is humanoids from the deep, often commonplace imagery Herschlein takes things into in the cultures around them,” Bell told the darker territory in the adjoining gallery. Current via email. “For Dan, it’s a look at the An avid horror fan whose artistic practice eerie paradoxes of the home as a physical includes sculpture, drawing and carpentry, and psychic space; for Shana, it’s looking at Herschlein has developed a visual vocabulary gendered bodily contortions like the arched populated by headless figures, dismembered back and the sexualization of women in hood body parts and other oddities befitting the set ornaments, shipheads, and other decals; and of a David Cronenberg film. for Naufus, it’s looking at where indigenous An exploration of the tension between light and colonial history collide and thinking and dark, his exhibition “Plane and Sane” is about how icons (like Roman Catholic saints) anchored by The Rough Patch — a foreshortcan come to embody anti-colonial histories.” ened, house-like structure that gallery-goers can pass through. From the front, the facade is intensely dark with swarms of creepy ’Folding, Floating, Falling’ “finger flies” buzzing in the illuminated windows. A multimedia artist who works between From the back, a strategic paint job gives sculpture, video and “photo-adjacent prothe illusion of headlights approaching from cesses,” Hoehn collaborates with curator behind. Even with daylight streaming in Ruslana Lichtzier on an archive compiling through the gallery windows, there’s an unimages of women throughout the ages with settling vibe that intensifies once you realize a particular emphasis on one gesture: the somebody is “home” — a headless, scarecrow arched back. For her 2019 solo exhibition extracting little sacks from his body and ar“Hauntings,” Hoehn brought aspects of that
Bryan Rindfuss
From left: Artpace’s current exhibitions showcase works by resident artists Dan Herschlein, Shana Hoehn and Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa.
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ranging them on shelves with assistance from disembodied hands. During the preview, Herschlein explained that the piece explores the “idea of accumulation and scarcity,” but that it’s intended to offer “an ambiguous experience.”
‘Cecília Rebelde’ A widely exhibited artist whose work involves performance, painting, sculpture, and sound, Ramírez-Figueroa investigates varied themes tied to historical narratives, cultural resistance and the Guatemalan Civil War. Exemplifying his curious sense of humor, his 2010 piece A Brief History of Architecture in Guatemala entailed performers dressed as a Mayan pyramid, a colonial church and the National Bank of Guatemala dancing until their crafty costumes fell apart. For his Artpace residency, Ramírez-Figueroa investigated the Totonicapán Uprising of 1820, during which the indigenous K’iche’ mobilized against the Spanish Empire. The popular legend that K’iche’ leader Atanasio Tzul “borrowed” the crowns of St. Joseph and St. Cecilia from a church — declaring himself king and his wife queen — forms the thematic backbone of his exhibition “Cecília Rebelde.” Referencing geometric patterns used by tailors and dressmakers, the artist suggests saintly attire in five masterful paintings on carved wooden panels. “I was interested in how clothing patterns in themselves are very interesting, abstract things to look at,” Ramírez-Figueroa said during the preview. Accompanied by three small sculptures and a sound piece, the paintings are suspended from the ceiling in an arced configuration that quietly evokes stained glass windows in an implied chapel.
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