El Espacio 23 |

Carlos Castro (b. 1976, Colombia)

La creación del unicornio, de la serie Mythstories 2019
Woven gobelin

Violence related to narcotrafficking in Colombia is the subject of Carlos Castro’s work, which draws inspiration from the European tradition of tapestry as symbols of royalty and wealth. The piece La creación del unicornio (The Creation of the Unicorn) presents an altered copy of the Gothic period tapestry The Unicorn is Found, from the series The Hunt of the Unicorn, made in The Netherlands around 1495-1505 and currently in the collection of The Met Cloisters in New York. The artist has inserted a woven portrait of drug lord Pablo Escobar into the composition which then turns into a reference of the exotic collection of animals Escobar was known to have assembled at his Hacienda Nápoles.

Leyla Cárdenas (b. 1975, Colombia)

Mutual Dissolution, 2019
Unweaved dye-sublimated fabric

Tania Candiani (b. 1974, Mexico)

Guadalajara, México. 9 de marzo 2021.
Marcha del 8M. II de la serie Manifestantes, 2022
Cotton thread sewn on cotton canvas, high-density acrylic paint, and acrylic sealer

Manila, Filipinas, 23 de febrero 2018.
Marcha para frenar la cultura de la violación, de la serie Manifestantes, 2022
Cotton thread sewn on cotton canvas, high-density acrylic paint, and acrylic sealer

These two works are part of the Manifestantes series, which begun in 2019, during feminist protests in Mexico referred to as the “glitter revolution,” when thousands of women marched against targeted violence of women, initially provoked by reports of the rape a teenage girl by the police. The artist creates portraits of protestors using thread on cotton fabric, based on images taken from social media. Red fabric and paint with white thread is used for portraits of individual women protestors and black for group portraits. Candiani describes her use of sewing as a gesture toward amplifying these representations and the outrage of these women, a form of “drawing out loud.” With the site of each specific protest identified in the titles the works, the artist’s project has grown to include feminist protests currently taking place across the world.

Tania Candiani (b. 1974, Mexico)

Lipo Front and Back, from the series Gordas, 2002–05
Acrylic paint, charcoal, and cotton thread sewn on canvas

Several works engaging the bare human body address the issues of vulnerability, identity, and societal perceptions, most dramatically represented by a gigantic diptych by Tania Candiani. Part of her Gordas series (2002-05), which focuses on the problems of women’s self-image, related to their bodies and the industries that promote idealized, unrealistically thin female physiques, this piece presents a front and a back view of the same elder-looking woman. Rendered in embroidery on canvas, the diptych is based on photographs used by plastic surgeons to mark the areas they recommend incisions to be made during liposuction procedures. The artist has instead used the markings to fill the canvas with cotton stuffing, creating a voluminous portrait of a woman submitting herself to this invasive weight-reduction process.

From left to right

Tania Candiani (b. 1974, Mexico)

Guadalajara, México. 9 de marzo 2021.
Marcha del 8M. II de la serie Manifestantes, 2022
Cotton thread sewn on cotton canvas, high-density acrylic paint, and acrylic sealer

Bisa Butler (b. 1973, United States)

Mobile Madonna, 2022
Cotton, silk, wool, and velvet quilted and appliquéd

Carlos Bunga (b. 1976, Portugal)

Alfombra #12, 2023
Latex and glue on rug

James Brown (b. 1951, United States; d. 2020, Mexico)

Color Study (266), 2007
Oil on folded linen mounted on canvas

Color Study (270), 2010
Oil on folded linen mounted on canvas

From left to right

Alighiero Boetti (b. 1940, Italy; d. 1994, Italy)

Divine Astrazioni, 1987
Embroidery on canvas

Udire tra le parole (Nove quadrati), 1979
Watercolor on handmade paper

These two small works, one a watercolor and the second an embroidery on canvas, present the abstracted forms of European lettering across a checkerboard structure, creating concrete poems that are difficult to decipher. The embroidered work, titled Divine astrazioni is part of the Arazzi series which often mixed words from the artist’s native Italian with Persian, the language spoken by the Afghani women who embroidered these works for the artist.

Sanford Biggers (b. 1970, United States)

Neroluce, 2018
Antique quilt, assorted textiles, tar, and glitter

Kader Attia (b. 1970, France)

Untitled (burnt wood picture), 2007
Burnt wood and nails on wooden stretcher

Alberto Arboleda (b. 1925, Colombia; d. 2011, Belgium)

Composición blanca, 1966
Collage on board

Polly Apfelbaum (b. 1955, United States)

Wimple, 2009
Marker on synthetic velvet

Polly Apfelbaum (b. 1955, United States)

Sun Target Drawings, 2018
Gouache on paper

Leonor Antunes (b. 1972, Portugal)

random intersections # 10, 2013
Leather and brass hardware

Ghada Amer (b. 1963, Egypt)

Portrait of Kamila, 2020
Acrylic, embroidery, and gel medium on canvas

Candida Alvarez (b. 1955, United States)

Between Two Things, from Air Paintings, 2017–19
Latex ink, acrylic, and collage on PVC mesh with aluminum and wood

(back side)

Etel Adnan (b. 1925, Lebanon; d. 2021, France)

Avril, 2017
Wool tapestry

Etel Adnan (b. 1925, Lebanon; d. 2021, France)

Untitled, 2014
Oil on canvas

Etel Adnan (b. 1925, Lebanon; d. 2021, France)

Planète, 2020
Oil on canvas

Igshaan Adams (b. 1982, South Africa)

Akbar, 2017
Nylon rope, cotton thread, and beads

The title of Igshaan Adams’ Akbar is an Arabic male name, a reference that addresses the South African artist’s Muslim faith. A queer artist who was born of a Muslim father and raised by his Christian grandmother, Adam’s elaborate textiles address the diverse cultural and spiritual contexts that continue to form his identity. The artist has embraced Islamic spirituality and particularly Sufism, and his works might be read as enlarged prayer rugs. This is particularly felt with the second piece in this gallery, titled Theshold II, whose symmetrically woven forms recall the floral patterning of Islamic carpets and their references to a garden paradise. The large central opening in this beaded piece, combined with its title speak to intersections between material and spiritual realms.

Magdalena Abakanowicz (b. 1930, Poland; d. 2017, Poland)

Untitled, 1977
Jute and resin on board

Fabric, figure, and landscape merge in this work by Magdalena Abakanowicz. Initially recognized for her innovative abstract works in fiber and textiles, which she produced at a massive scale during the 1960s, figurative references enter her practice in the 1970s. From 1976-80 she produced Backs, which consists of eighty individual sculptures of the human torso. The 1977 untitled work in this section of the exhibition was produced during this same period and presents the imprint of a headless human back, made from coarse jute sackcloth and molded into place using synthetic resins. The inherent roughness of the natural fiber creates the uncomfortably uneven surface in this piece, with wrinkles and bunches evident throughout. On the foregrounded body, these textures look like the wrinkles of aged skin or scars, while the background areas recall mountains, ravines, or the bark of a tree, adding references to organic matter. The artist has described how “we are all fibrous structures,” and her use of this material here poetically creates connections between the human body and the earth, addressing the wear and suffering both have undergone throughout history.

On April 26, 2024, El Espacio 23 hosted an Open Studio for the artists in residency, Andre Acevedo and Alice Wagner.

The artists showcased to the public the work they had been developing throughout their time at El Espacio 23.