ART CITIES:N.York-Naufus Ramírez Figueroa

Working in drawing, performance, sculpture, and video, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa (b. 1978, Guatemala City, Guatemala) explores the entanglement of history and form through the lens of his own displacement during and following Guatemala’s civil war of 1960–96. Borrowing from the languages of folklore, science fiction, and theater, he reframes historical events and protagonists.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: New Museum Archive

Engaging fantasy and allegory, Ramírez-Figueroa’s installations combine sculpture and experimental theater to transfigure everyday images and objects into symbolic tableaux creating dreamlike scenes that build on references to literature, folklore, magic, and childhood memories. “The House at Kawinal,” the artist’s first solo exhibition in the USA, will present a recent performance for video, “Life in His Mouth, Death Cradles Her Arm” (2016), together with a new body of sculptures inspired in part by the artist’s research into the effects of the construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam in Guatemala in the early 1980s. To build the dam, the Guatemalan government forcibly displaced thousands of Achi Mayan people through brutal military-led massacres that wiped out villages throughout the Chixoy River Valley. The flooding caused by the dam also submerged the Late Mayan city of Kawinal, the ruins of which are now largely invisible and inaccessible. Using his body and direct action, Ramírez-Figueroa creates an image related to this history, which he approaches from his lived experience and memory and softens through abstraction. The performance asks questions about duration in terms of the persistence of history and its relationship to the social and individual body. “Life in His Mouth, Death Cradles Her Arm” shows the artist standing in the grave complex of Guetemala City;s General Cemetery, In his arms he holds a block of ice wrapped in a blanket that drips and dissolves. It looks like he’s cradling a child whose life is slow draining away. The first iteration of the live performance was in 2006 at Western front in Vancouver. It was lost in a house fire that burned not only the copy of the video, but also other works by Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, including videos, drawings and watercoloursFor his New Museum installation, Ramírez-Figueroa presents a series of figurative works that suggest a lost and fragmented domestic space and evoke this violent displacement to reflect on its lasting impact on families, indigenous heritage, and the natural landscape. Past works by the artist include the video “A Brief History of Architecture in Guatemala” (2010–13), which shows three amateur dancers (including the artist himself) shuffling about to a traditional marimba melody in costumes that represent different Guatemalan architectural styles. As the work progresses their outfits gradually fall apart to reveal their bare bodies in a pointed, if tongue-in-cheek, criticism of Guatemala’s policies of urban renewal. In the theatrical installation “Props for Eréndira” (2014), Ramírez-Figueroa excavates Gabriel García Márquez’s novel  “The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Souless Grandmother” (1972), about a girl forced into prostitution by her grandmother after accidently burning down the family home. As if setting the stage for a drama about to unfold, vividly painted polystyrene sculptures of key objects from the life of the protagonist are set against pink-smoke wallpaper.

Info: Curator: Natalie Bell, Associate, New Museum, 235 Bowery, New York, Duration: 6/6-18/9/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-21:00, www.newmuseum.org