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Gonzalo Fuenmayor, The politics of forgetting, 2020, charcoal on paper, 84 x 144 in. Courtesy: Dotfiftyone

GONZALO FUENMAYOR: PALINDROMES

“Palindromes” represents Fuenmayor’s “latest investigations into how images can speak to the dynamics of performing identity, negotiating cultural expectations, address histories of colonial exploitation and unpack tropical self-exotification. These reoccurring interests are particularly addressed in his practice to a pan-Latin American and U.S. Latinx context,” according to curator Tobias Ostrander’s text.

EDUARDO NAVARRO (BREATHSPACE)

Gasworks presents the first UK solo exhibition by Buenos Aires-based artist Eduardo Navarro. Sitting in a corner of the gallery, the viewer encounters “Self-Doll” (2020), a stuffed humanoid covered in orange fleece. In a time of strict distancing regulations, Self-Doll has become a surrogate for the artist, acting as Navarro’s proxy in the exhibition and for public events. Throughout the exhibition the artist will communicate through the doll at random times, inviting conversations with the audience.

BONY RAMIREZ: MUSA X PARADISIACA

Behind Ramirez’s muses lie saturated, playful colors, or landscapes of quintessential Caribbean beaches, jungles, and paradisiacal symbols. Accompanying many of his subjects are still lifes with tropical fruits, shells, and plants like the “flamboyant tree” and plantains (scientifically, Musa x Paradisiaca). He uses the traditional elements of Renaissance portraiture, but adapts them with Caribbean iconography, rendering his works’ subject matter away from white gentry to those affected by European colonialism.

IGNACIO ACOSTA’S ARCHAEOLOGY OF SACRIFICE

In line with Frederic Jameson’s musings on the relationship between utopia and science fiction, and seeing the latter’s strength in failing to accurately imagine a real future, «Archeology of Sacrifice» similarly plays with our imagination’s incapacity. Global capitalism is once again responsible; we’re frozen within its trap, unable to seek alternatives. Instead of presenting a conclusive vision, the film offers a plethora of prospects which “defamiliarize and restructure our experience of our own present».

TISHAN HSU: LIQUID CIRCUIT

In the mid-1980s Tishan Hsu (b. 1951, Boston) began a series of works that considered the implications of the accelerated use of technology and artificial intelligence and their impact on the body and human condition. His prescient artistic practice has been probing the cognitive as well as physical effects of transformative technological advances on our lives. An artist-intellectual ahead of his time, Hsu worked quietly for many years, largely overlooked or forgotten by the art world –until now.

THE BOTANICAL MIND. ART, MYSTICISM AND THE COSMIC TREE

Drawing on indigenous traditions from the Amazon rainforest; alternative perspectives on Western scientific rationalism; and new thinking around plant intelligence, philosophy and cultural theory, the online exhibition »The Botanical Mind» investigates the significance of the plant kingdom to human life, consciousness and spirituality across cultures and through time. It explores ideas of plant sentience, indigenous cosmologies, radical botany, Gaia theory, quantum biology, and the influence of psychoactive plant medicines.

Adam Hines, Civil Rights Leaders, 2020, color pencil on paper, 15.5 x 19 in. Courtesy: Project Onward

A SELECTION OF WORKS FROM THE OUTSIDER ART FAIR –PARIS

The Outsider Art Fair, the premier fair dedicated to exhibit self-taught Art, Art Brut and Outsider Art, celebrates its 8th Paris edition between October 21-30. In tandem with the online fair is a special exhibition organized by former Pompidou curator Alison M. Gingeras. Entitled «Sexual Personae», the show examines archetypes of womanhood that are deeply embedded in Western culture

EDDIE RODOLFO APARICIO: ESPINAS AMOROSAS

For Aparicio, rubber itself exudes the symmetry between the commodification of indigenous material culture and the exploitation of Latin American countries for labor and resources. Restored to its natural function, it also suggests a salve: dressing the wound, repairing the broken, displaced, and dispossessed. Throughout «Espinas Amorosas/Loving Thorns», entwined threads lead back and forth between El Salvador and Los Angeles, relays along which Aparicio is a spore.

Gina Beavers, Duct-tape Banana Nails, 2020. Acrylic on linen on panel, 30 x 24 x 3 inches (76.2 x 61 x 7.6 cm). Courtesy: Marianne Boesky Gallery

GINA BEAVERS: WORLD WAR ME

Drawing on images taken from Instagram, YouTube, image databases, and other online sources, Gina Beavers creates thick, tactile paintings that capture, in deeply visceral ways, the curated and often superficial nature of our digital lives. Her recent series of sculptural paintings are based on body painting, social media snapshots of food, make-up tutorials, memes, and bodybuilder selfies.

WILL FREDO: SEXUAL HEALERS TV

Mouches Volantes presents «Sexual Healers TV», a solo exhibition by Will Fredo about sex work, created as a proheaux art channel dedicated to body politics. Through the artist’s research on the sex industry in the Americas and interviews and performances with two sexual healers, the semi-sci-fi video installation addresses an intersection of topics, including sex workers’ subjectivities and rights, technology as a tool for democratizing pleasure, Black trans body politics, decolonizing sexuality, among others. Thanks to Will Fredo for sharing his thoughts about this work with us