Dorsky Museum Artist statement
Exalting the overlooked and exposing truth is a sublime act. By resurrecting ancient pre-Columbian ceramic forms, I invoke the rich visual language of my ancestors to address the systemic impact of colonization on indigenous peoples and the natural world. I combine various techniques using globally sourced ceramic materials and stained glass to create evocative sculptures. Through the hybridization of pre-Columbian forms with iconic contemporary imagery, I revive indigenous knowledge and provide new narratives from the diverse Latinx diaspora in the US. The hybrids assert their autonomy, challenge pervasive Western ideologies, and ask viewers to consider the past, present, and future.
Dorsky Museum Installation
Disclaimer: This exhibition was a tiny fraction of my thesis work and is not exhibited as planned since artists were not allowed to install the work due to COVID restrictions. I created about 50 sculptures with custom pedestals and light fixtures that were designed to transport the viewer to another place and time. Sadly, due to the closure of university campuses in March 2020, the original May 2020 exhibition date was postponed until November 2020. SUNY New Paltz graciously accommodated my cohort of fellow graduates and invited a renowned curator, Eileen Jeng Lynch, to curate one group show.
The 47' long by 7' high mural was painted by multimedia artist Marco A Barrioz, a long time friend and fellow artist. He is featured in one of the photos above. I collaborated with him to highlight the work of an underrepresented Latinx artist. It was important to transform the white walls of the institutional space of the Dorsky Museum to provide context for my work and convey my intention. The Mayan hieroglyphs painted on flattened fruit boxes provide a visual connection to pre-Columbian iconography and geography as well as postcolonial corporate plunder.
The 47' long by 7' high mural was painted by multimedia artist Marco A Barrioz, a long time friend and fellow artist. He is featured in one of the photos above. I collaborated with him to highlight the work of an underrepresented Latinx artist. It was important to transform the white walls of the institutional space of the Dorsky Museum to provide context for my work and convey my intention. The Mayan hieroglyphs painted on flattened fruit boxes provide a visual connection to pre-Columbian iconography and geography as well as postcolonial corporate plunder.
installations
California Cash Crop. Red is Gold, 2020. Three red earthenware strawberries, terra sigillata, neon spray paint, and 1 bright berry made of ^8 custom clay with glaze.
Refugee Border Chanklas, The Struggle is Real, 2020, Egyptian paste, custom red glaze, ^011 ox., various sizes ranging from 2-8 L. x 1-3 H. inches.
Gallery
Banana Republics, 2020, Custom clays, 3D printed porcelain head, stained glass, solder, lamp, is ^6 ox., H. 12.25, W. 14, D. 14 inches. Homage to the indigenous men, women, and children of Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Colombia who were/are exploited on banana plantations.
Hazardous to Immigrant Health, 2020, Red earthenware, glaze, decals, stained glass, solder, LED lamp, fired to ^04 and ^017 ox., H. 11.5, W. 11, D. 13.5 inches. Unrestricted use of pesticides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, etc. are sprayed directly over workers in the fields, exposing these vulnerable human beings to over 42 known carcinogens, neurotoxins, endocrine disruptors, and sterilizing ingredients. The oversized strawberry is linked to the exploitation of Latinx immigrant farm workers who tend to this massive cash crop worth $4 billion. In 2017, on a southbound drive from Los Padres National Forest to Los Angeles, I witnessed a horrendous scene in Bakersfield, California. Hundreds of Latinx workers picked strawberries in a valley that trapped yellow polluted air. There was an acrid odor in the air and the buzz of a crop duster plane spraying chemicals overhead. The workers had no protection against the chemicals sprayed on the crops and their bodies. They covered their bodies from head to toe in the 90°F heat with pants, hooded sweaters and bandanas over their faces, but lacked proper protection from the toxic fumes. I was utterly shocked and horrified at the level of inhumanity and was compelled to create sculptures to raise awareness of our complicity in this current form of exploitation.
Chemical Warfare, 2020, Red earthenware, glaze, decals, fired to ^04 and ^017 ox., H. 6, W. 15, D. 8.25 inches. Bayer AG was one of the 6 companies that merged to form IG Farben, the chemical company that supplied the Nazis with Zyklon B, a lethal pesticide. Today, Bayer produces toxic agricultural chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and growth enhancers which poison vulnerable migrant farm workers. These undocumented workers are sprayed by crop dusting planes along with the crops. The chemicals migrate into municipal waterways, which poison millions of Americans. The chemical warfare on the 'other' and on unsuspecting citizens persists.
Big Ag loves Fast Ca$h, 2020, Red earthenware, glaze, lab glass test tubes, ^04 ox., H. 7, W. 13, D. 10 inches.
Land Theft, 2020, Red earthenware with glaze, decals, stained glass, solder, LED lamp, fired to ^04 and ^017 ox., H. 6.5, W. 13, D. 11 inches. Altar to the exploited people of Abiayala (the Americas). Land Theft is an illuminated strawberry sculpture that bridges colonial and neocolonial exploitation, transcending time by exploring material agency. Paul Mathieu highlights the global context of handmade objects as powerful agents of change in the sense that objects can be transnational, which “operate beyond geographical borders,” transcultural, “combining various cultures in juxtaposition, blurring identities,” “and most importantly they can also be trans-historical, working timelessly, reuniting past, present and future seamlessly” (“Object Theory.” The Ceramics Reader, edited by Andrew Livingston and Kevin Petrie, Bloomsbury, 2017; 269). An accompanying placard informs viewers that colonialism separated the people of Abiayala from their land and symbiotic ways of living in nature. The slump-formed stained glass window in the shape of South America hints at past forms of oppression, while the popular fruit, first cultivated by American Indians in North America, points to current forms of exploitation on stolen land. Catholic churches used stained glass windows to illuminate and alter the way natural light flowed into churches to inspire awe and exude spiritual power. Light was used to animate religious narrative scenes featuring saints and their god. Although churches are remarkable architectural spaces, they symbolize oppression in Abiayala because Europeans used Catholicism as a tool to delegitimize and destroy indigeneity and subjugate people. In this sculpture, the stained glass window reveals a dark interior and acts as a transhistorical altar to the oppressed.
US Intervention in Latin America, 2020, Red earthenware, glaze, metal oxides, ^04 ox., H. 6.5, W. 12.5, D. 8.5 inches. US gun manufacturers continue to fuel instability throughout Latin America by supplying guns through licit and illicit weapon sales across the border. Right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America have been supported by the US government since the creation of the US Army School of the Americas in 1946, known today as The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in Fort Benning, Georgia.
Abiayala Migration, 2020, Red earthenware, glaze, ^04 ox., H. 6.25, W. 10.25, D. 14 inches. This sculpture denotes some of the current migration routes of people who are driven from their homes by violence, corruption, crime, environmental degradation, extreme climate change, and poverty.
Bananaman, Ecuador, Quichua descendant, 2020, Custom clays, glaze, decals, ^6 and ^017 ox., H. 11.75, W. 21, D. 35 inches. Bananaman weeps for he is too weak to continue working on Dole’s plantations from exposure to toxic pesticides. He weeps for his ten year old son and twelve year old daughter who continue to work for the wealthy landowners in order to eat. Dole, like many large agricultural corporations, uses harmful chemicals to maintain monocultures that attract pests. According to the New York Times journalist Juan Forero, Dole, Del Monte, and wholesale suppliers such as Costo and Wal-Mart, fuel child labor by setting the unfair prices they’re willing to pay. Adults and children who work on these plantations are exposed to a slew of toxic chemicals and ultimately pay the price with their health.