In TJ Art Pushes Back The encyclopedia offers this description: “In the boiling process, no matter how much heat is applied, the liquid only boils faster and the temperature of the water remains constant during the process.” It is perhaps not coincidental that this core group of four young artists from Tijuana, Mexico, have assumed the name Boiling Process, a reflection of their creativity, equanimitas, and resiliency in the largest USMexico border metropolis whose infamous reputation for drugs, violence, corruption, and sex is being eclipsed by growing sectors in contemporary art, digital technologies, and regional gastronomy. It would be foolhardy to ignore the dark undercurrents that still remain. The border is never completely out of one’s mind in TJ and its physicality is more than matched by its psychic encroachment. Rather than fleeing or migrating, the founding artists of Boiling Process: Paula Flores, Mariel Abarca, Talia P. Gilbert, SPEL, and Elsoldelrac are making a spirited stand in their city, and beyond. They travel easily with their documents through the porous checkpoints. They look northward rather than south to Mexico City, embracing the idea that Southern California and Northern Baja essentially constitute one region with its creative nodes in San Diego and its Barrio Logan
district; Tijuana with CECUT and TJinChina Project Space, among others. They’re young. They’re vocal. They travel. With LA artists the members mounted Boiling Process 2, a one night pop-up at JAUS in Los Angeles, then Boiling Process Vol. 3 at the Mexicali Rose Art Gallery, and recently in the landmark exhibition, Revision Glocal Review, at CECUT. This summer they were enthusiastically received at The Joshua Treenial, in the California high desert, where they rubber shoulders with artists and visitors from Palm Springs, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Dallas, Dubai, Washington DC, San Diego, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, and Joshua Tree, among other places. Museum directors, program executives, art professors, and art collectors viewed their works. They are socially conscious, tackling vital issues of social justice and sustainability through the language of art, pushing back against ignorance and apathy. Collaborators and potential new members approach them. Artist residencies and exhibitions are planned in other countries. The artists of Boiling Process are making noise, creating waves, moving forward, and not looking back. These are the artists to watch
Dr. KJ Baysa CURATOR
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