Discount Deco, as part of La Bodega y Más
Miami Basel Art Week, 2018
El Espacio on Ocho // Miami, FL
GOOD TO KNOW PRESENTS LA BODEGA Y MÁS
December 6th – 11th, 2018 3663 SW 8th St, Miami, FL 33135
Good to Know is proud to present La Bodega y Más at El Espacio on Ocho, a site-responsive exhibition in the West Little Havana neighborhood. La Bodega y Más is composed of seven storefront exhibitions and one large gallery space. Participating artists activate storefronts on the iconic Calle Ocho street in response to the local businesses that once occupied each space. The exhibition will begin on the corner of SW 36th Court and end on the SW 36th ST.
La Bodega y Más is a commentary on the American strip mall experience and the cultural needs particular to the Cuban exile population. While this exhibition brings awareness to the neighborhood's tradition and pays tribute to the culture and history of Little Havana, it reflects on current issues affecting Miami, such as gentrification, immigration, and ecology.
Storefront Installations: Reynier Chino Novo (Cuba), Paulo Licona (Colombia), Fanny Allié (France) presented by Rata Projects, Reyes Santiago Rojas (Colombia), Leah Dixon (US), Jack Henry (US), Ruben Millares (US), and Shane Darwent (US) Location: Beginning on the corner of sw 36th ave on Calle Ocho (next door to Versailles Restaurant).
Gallery Space: As a final stop within the storefront exhibition, art goers will make their way down Calle Ocho to enter a curated immersive gallery. The large gallery space will be hub for information on the exterior exhibition, interactive talks, educational programming and dance parties. Specialty events will be featured at this location throughout the week. Located next door to the original “El Espacio On Ocho” at 3663 SW 8th St, Miami, FL 33135.
Participating artists include: Arno Beck (Germany), Kelly Breez (US), Carne Collectivo (Colombia), Ray Geary (US), Royal Jarmon (US), Sarah Nicole (US), Ammon Rost (US), Maira Senise (Brazil), Alex Valls (US) and Egle Zvirblyte (UK)
Center of Subtropical Affairs and Real Estate Gallery: Placed within the Main Gallery, the Center of Subtropical Affairs and Real Estate Gallery have curated a section dedicated to ecology and related art works. The space will exist as a laboratory for orchids titled The Million Orchid Project and will feature programming and talks open to the public.
Participating artists: Eddie Martinez, Brian DeGraw, Joe Bradley, Rosalind Tallmadge, Jennifer Coates, William Suran, Alicia Gibson, David Humphrey, Tamara Gonzales, Steve Dibenedetto, Josh Abelow, Jennifer Sullivan, Brookhart Jonquil and Franky Cruz.
Events and Talks:
Friday, December 7th, 12:00 pm Brunch and Talk: In conversation: Participating artist Shane Darwent and the Director of The Tulsa Fellowship, Carolyn Sickles cover artistic practice and career opportunities, highlighting the Tulsa Fellowship and its launch of a committed artist program. 2:00 pm, Private Tour: Following the conversation, Good to Know curators and selected artists Jack Henry and Paulo Licona, will lead a private tour of La Bodega y Más.
Saturday, December 8th, 12:00 pm: Roundtable Discussion: The Directors of Center of Subtropical Affairs gather with local experts to discuss sustainable futures and civic ecology in the urban core and land stewardship. Hosted by: Casey Zap and Christiana Morrow Participating Speakers: Dr. Jason Downing, Barbara Martinez, Guerrero, Ian Wogan, Dr. John Cozza, and Joshua Sagarribay.
About the Storefronts:
Farmacia Luis by Reynier Leyva Novo: Cuban artist Reynier Leyva Novo will sets up a Collection Center, where he invites Cuban migrants to donate their used clothes to be turned into a 16-foot carpet, paying homage to the popular Cuban tradition of reusing clothes to make new objects for their homes. The action connects signs and referents, art and society, man and history. It becomes an anthropological map that revises Cuban daily life.
Cuba Travel by Paulo Licona: A simple office at first glance. A Cuban flag on the back, hides a sinking raft that floats on the sea—all made out of paper- mache. The Cuban dream of leaving the island is inverted, where one might want to return to the place of origin, but physically can’t. Like the raft of the Medusa and its symbol of self-conquest of the territory, this installation symbolically asks to think of the journeys so many immigrants undertake and how it cannot be reversed.
Cigar Shop by Reyes Santiago Rojas: The starting point for Reyes Santiago are empty boxes of Tabaco cigarettes, which is all that is left at the end of the production and consumption chain of this industry. Eagles, palm trees, horses, camels, crowns, spirits, luck, numbers and points are some of the imagery that surround these cigarette brands. Reyes Santiago dissects these boxes and through a process of natural tobacco dye, transforms the finished products to the appearance of the original tobacco plant.
Coin Laundry by Fanny Allié Allié captures the simultaneous ubiquity and instability of migration by using an ephemeral yet familiar material: trash bags. Allié finds ways to recycle and breathe life into these castaway items, echoing the way in which El Espacio is being repurposed. Allié’s subject matter of nomadic and marginalized figures connects with the history and environment of Little Havana, home to many immigrants - moving from one place to another.
Hair Salon by Leah Dixon: This work is focused on the sexuality of ergonomics and atmosphere. Salon chairs, dentist chairs, car seats - these things all imagine the physicality of a body, so that we may feel comfortable amidst the semi-violence of chopping hair, pulling teeth, flinging ourselves down highways, etc. Through this installation, Dixon likens this illusion of comfort, to a woman's experience in contemporary society.
No branding Store by Jack Henry: Jack Henry utilizes discarded objects and plant life collected from his surroundings. The material is embedded between layers of gypsum cement, cast in resin for an assemblage, or collaged to create drawings of imagined landscapes. Each process places industrial byproducts and natural growth on an equal plane. The purpose is to explore the beauty that still exists in the American landscape despite the pervasiveness of industrial expansion.
Dollar Store by Shane Darwent: Shane Darwent’s research lies in storefronts of American buildings. By using materials such as vinyl siding, cinder blocks and chain like fences, he explores the lost American dream through concepts of nostalgia and abandoned hope. By juxtaposing the Dollar Store façade with a storefront found in Tulsa where he is a current a fellow at the prestigious Tulsa Fellowship, this immersive installation reimagines elements of function and design as he highlights the American strip mall experience.
Dollar Store by Ruben Millares: Stimulated by the dollar store and the “fast money” society we live in, this installation abstracts numbers from their monetary value. Through this gesture, Millares strips these numbers from their original meaning and reinterprets them in a visual cacophony.
About:
El Espacio on Ocho is located in the heart of Miami, FL, next to Miami's iconic landmark, Versailles Cuban Restaurant. The building serves as a backdrop to the Good to Know Miami Art Basel 2018 exhibition, La Bodega y Más.
Good To Know is a curatorial collective providing a platform for artists in non-traditional spaces. The GTK members are Alex Valls, Julianna Vezzetti and Juliana Steiner. La Bodega y Más is GTK’s second Miami Art Basel edition. Discount Deco mines the vernacular of American commercial thoroughfares to create a sculptural gardenscape within a vacant dollar store. Storefront awnings are reimagined as curious totems, photographs of strip malls become a dimensional paradox, and dry rock beds stand in for the ordered organic. Together, the works in Discount Deco collapse the hierarchy of the luxurious, the aspirational and the mundane into a fluid space where each offers an equal chance for reflection.
