Esperanza Cortes

Purple Heart

2020

FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY is proud to present Offerings, the first solo exhibition in twenty-three years of New Orleans-based artist and gallery co-owner, Jonathan Ferrara. For his gal...

The artist says of her work... Arrested Symphony is an exhibition incorporating sculptures, reliefs, drawings and hanging works that explore the theme of injustice that is at the roots of the predatory gem and mineral excavation industry. While at a residency in Knoxville, Tennessee, I discovered that Oakridge was only 30 miles away. Oakridge played a key role in the development of the Atom Bomb and the Manhattan Project. I began an exploration and comparison of Uranium and Emeralds. These minerals look very much alike, beautiful but dangerous on their effect on civil conflict. Colombia my birthplace, has the finest Emeralds in the world. The mining of Emeralds was an important element in the continued colonization of the region. Emeralds have helped to fund the more than 60-year conflict which has taken over 450,000 lives and displaced about 5.7 million people. Uranium has brought destruction to a level which altered the future of warfare. The developments made during the Manhattan Project led to the death of about 700,000 people and its effects are still felt around the world. I use Colombia as an example, however this situation is repeating itself in many parts of the world. Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo are all involved in brutal civil conflicts fueled by Blood Diamonds. This project will make visual the human cost extracted with these minerals, once exposed to the light of day they can never be unearthed. My practice is an ongoing object-based exploration through which I create artworks which are organic and improvisational constructions that are infused with hope and renewal. The hand-crafted artworks are poetically and intricately crafted, creating an intimate repository for the individual and collective memory and implement the human body as a symbol and expression of nature, vulnerability and power. The work encourages viewers to reconsider social and historical narratives especially when dealing with the aftermath of Colonialism and raises critical questions about the politics of erasure and exclusion. ESPERANZA CORTÉS is a Colombian born contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. Cortés has exhibited in the United States in solo and group exhibitions in venues including Smack Mellon Gallery, Neuberger Museum of Art, Bronx Museum of Art, Queens Museum, El Museo Del Barrio, MoMA PS1, Socrates Sculpture Park and White-box Gallery in New York City. Nationally Cortes exhibitions include Cleveland Art Museum, OH, CSU Galleries at Cleveland University, OH, Helen Day Art Center, VT and The Lorenzo Homar...

María José de la Macorra (México, D.F., 1964) realizó sus estudios en la Escuela de Cerámica y Porcelana de Toluca, Mokichi Okada Association,...

About I+ Series: “No matter who you are, no matter how you look, what your racial, religious, or national background might be, we are all born equal. We should strive to achieve unity and acceptance. It is a daily reminder to me when I create ceramic sculpture that everyone deserves a fair and accepting existence and that everyone can make choices that will lead to a better life. A ceramic feature's naivety is a reminder that each of us must thrive, both within ourselves and within our communities, to make the universe a more POSITIVE place.” This piece is part of an edition of 15 and it comes signed and numbered. Yael Yanay...