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Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Life in his Mouth, Death Cradles her Arm, 2016 (still). Single-channel video, sound, color; 8:51 min. Commissioned by If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part of Your Revolution. Courtesy the artist; Mendes Wood DM; Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City; and Sies + Höke, Dusseldorf
Exhibition
Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa: The House at Kawinal
6 Jun 2018 – 9 Sep 2018
Regular hours
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 21:00
- Friday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Tuesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
Address
- 235 Bowery
- New York
New York - NY 10002
- United States
Travel Information
- From the East Side of Manhattan Take the downtown 6 train to Spring Street. Exit the station and walk one block north on Lafayette Street to Prince Street. Turn right and proceed until Prince Street ends four blocks later at Bowery. From the West Side of Manhattan Take the downtown N or R train to Prince Street. Exit the station and proceed east on Prince Street for six blocks to Bowery. You may also take the downtown D or F train to Broadway/ Lafayette. Walk three blocks east to Bowery and turn right two blocks to Prince Street. From Brooklyn Take the Manhattan-bound F train to 2nd Avenue. Exit at Houston Street and walk one block west to Bowery. Turn left, and proceed two blocks south to Prince Street. From Queens Take the Manhattan-bound F train to 2nd Avenue. Exit at Houston Street and walk one block west to Bowery. Turn left, and proceed two blocks south to Prince Street.
Working in performance, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa creates dreamlike scenes that build on references to literature, folklore, magic, and childhood memories.
About
Engaging fantasy and allegory, Ramírez-Figueroa’s installations combine sculpture and experimental theater to transfigure everyday images and objects into symbolic tableaux. Though the artist’s works often exude a sense of whimsy and playfulness, they also allude to tragic and traumatic events that have shaped the social and political climate of present-day Guatemala.
“The House at Kawinal,” the artist’s first solo exhibition in the US, 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 (1100–1524 AD) city of Kawinal, the ruins of which are now largely invisible and inaccessible. For 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.
The exhibition is curated by Natalie Bell, Associate Curator.
