BRONX, NY -- The Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) is pleased to present Process Reimagined - Building it Up to Tear it Downcurated by Rachel Sydlowski at the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos. 

Process Reimagined - Building it Up to Tear it Down presents a series of artworks across a range of mediums and disciplines, connected through the broad processes of making, deconstruction of materials, evidence of labor, and the absence of the artist's hand. Focusing on the ebb and flow of construction/deconstruction, this examination of varied processes elucidates how the conceptual aims of each artist are inherently tied to their personal act of making. 

The exhibition considers two diametrically opposed approaches in the spectrum of making; the first, the maker is cognizant of their process of removing their ‘hand’ from their act of making. A sleight of hand where the process is hidden from the viewer, effortlessness acts as a veil for the complex and consuming planning that produces an object or image. In the second, the artist carefully considers leaving traces of the creative act as integral to the artwork itself. The embrace of materiality celebrates the marks and physical record. Artists in this exhibition are placed along this scale, from one extreme to the other, from pristine images to deconstruction and in the most severe cases, physical destruction. 

Anny Chen’s site-specific clay installation A Return to the Earth engages with both direct and indirect processes. As time passes, the clay dries shrinking on the form, causing the clay to crack and even release from the armature. On Thinning Ice, a single-channel video, documents the slow erosion of greenware vessels. The artist places blocks of ice on top of the greenware vessels as microphones record the interior soundscape.

Karewith Casas’s large textile abiertos…cerrados…rompiendose… (open…close…breaking…) documents the mark-making process of the cyanotype. The blue or cyan is related to the intensity of light from the sun, a key element in this process, and an uncontrolled variable that leaves nuanced traces across the artwork. 

Duane Bailey-Castro’s photographs of bridges and icebergs are pristine in their representations. The bridges exist for the viewer in a glorious moment, glowing in the New York City night, or flexing their stasis through steel and geometry against soft skies. The silent icebergs of Disko Bay and bridges of the Harlem River float in a forever space. 

A series of 46 color separations is used in the making of the artist's book Ibaraki, by Sakura Abdel- Rahman. This diminutive single-staple book combines text and illustrations expertly screen-printed in a series of complex layers. The viewer is invited to physically engage with the narrative by turning the pages of the book.

Interrogating architecture, Matt Robinson and Christian Amaya Garcia enact a rigorous inquiry of cityscapes and structures. Both artists utilize explicit building materials and implicit representations of architecture in their compositions. Matt Robinson uses collage systems, digital processes, projection, and drawing aids to render both distorted and accurate graphical representations in his paintings. Christian Amaya Garcia’s Fieldwork series employs cracked drywall and photography to investigate issues related to how materials change value over the course of their use. His site-specific installation, The displacement of theoretical structures and material identities, explores topics like the material history of urbanism occupied by people of color in New York City, fragmentation, perception, and communication through line and space.

In its first public exhibition, Sites of Violence / La Malinche by Sonja John employs a complex process to express issues related to colonialism and how land and power are intertwined. The hanging installation cut from large sheets of mylar is comprised of layers of incised spray paint, indigo, and acrylic resulting in areas of translucency and opacity. Like many of the artists in this exhibition, Sonja John is able to deconstruct complex issues through the rigorous physical act of making.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Sakura Abdel-Rahman | Duane Bailey-Castro | Karewith Casas | Anny Chen | Christian Amaya Garcia | Sonja John | Matt Robinson

Curated by: Rachel Sydlowski

Opening Reception:

Wednesday, March 29, 2023| 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Public Program:

Wednesday, April 19, 2023| 6:00 PM- 8:00 PM

Closing Reception:

Wednesday, May 3, 2023| 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Process Reimagined - Building it Up to Tear it Down

Exhibition On view from March 29 to May 3, 2023

Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA)

Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos

450 Grand Concourse

Bronx, NY 10451, Room C-190

Gallery Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 12pm-6pm