ART CITIES:N.York-Bosco Sodi
Focusing on material exploration, the creative gesture, and the spiritual connection between the artist and his work, Bosco Sodi seeks to transcend conceptual barriers. The artist leaves many of his works untitled, with the intention of removing any predisposition or connection beyond the work’s immediate existence. The work itself becomes a memory and a relic symbolic of the artist’s conversation with the raw material that brought the artwork into creation.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Paul Kasmin Gallery Archive
Called “Muro” Bosco Sodi’s first public installation in New York is raising today at Washington Square Park. “Muro” (2017) is a 2-meter high by 8-meter long wall constructed with 1,600 clay timbers that Sodi fired by hand at his studio in Oaxaca, México with the help of local craftsman, many of them had entered the United States illegally at some point in their lives, adding another layer of political significance. The installation will stand for one day. Visitors are invited to remove one timber at the end of the day, each sealed by the artist with his signature, to take home. “Muro” will thereafter endure as a communally co-owned work of art. The project expands upon Sodi’s ongoing interest in organic processes beyond the artist’s control. The impermanent nature of Muro further underscores the sentiment that all obstacles have the potential to be dismantled through united forces. The artist said in an interview, he is to install the wall with the help of Mexican artists and friends who live in New York. “I wanted to create a wall made by Mexicans with Mexican earth. Then the disappearance of the wall will be by the community and all kinds of people who visit the park”. Throughout the duration of the artwork, “Muro” evokes diverse metaphors that are activated by the public as they collectively disassemble the wall. In doing so, the artwork subverts the primary function of a wall as a device of separation by empowering the community to remove this physical barrier and its inherent symbolism. From its inception to its completion, “Muro” makes an artistic statement on current tensions in American foreign policy.
Info: Washington Square Park, New York, Duration: 7/9/17, Hours: 15:00-20:00, www.paulkasmingallery.com
