On the Surface including works by Rabéa Ballin, Saba Besier, Sara Cardona, Sophia Longoria, Lovie Olivia, and Preetika Rajgariah, curated by Consuelo Gutierrez, opens this Saturday, January 18 at The MAC. The group exhibition that serves as a cultural exchange between Dallas and Houston, presents a human landscape to be surveyed and processed in hopes of fostering a deeper understanding of the human condition. Gutierrez was previously the director of programs at The Cedars Union and the head of the Imaging Services Department at The Menil Collection in Houston.
“On the Surface focuses on the ways the featured artists’ works survey various cultural artifacts, creating pieces of a cultural map that ranges across different identities and spaces,” explains Gutierrez.
The exhibition focuses on artistic processes and materials. Some works reassemble or reimagine moments and memories and others attempt to encapsulate and record memories in both concrete and semi-permanent ways.
Topography, remnants, and reproduction tie the works together. Saba Besier uses porcelain, a clay body that is strong but delicate in appearance, to create sci-fi-inspired underwater landscapes that beg to be touched. Rabéa Ballin uses various printmaking methods to explore hair beautification practices as well as objects that reveal hidden cultural histories. Sara Cardona arranges images of pieces of abandoned clothing and other objects into digital assemblages, while Preetika Rajgariah tears apart and rearranges pieces of Indian saris into soft sculpture installations. Sophia Longoria reproduces pieces of lyrics from songs by her favorite bands from the 1990s onto hand-painted shirts. Video works from the artists will also be highlighted in the new media gallery.
Guiterrez continues, “Although the artists come from different backgrounds, they share common themes and approaches to their work, reacting to the world around them to dig deeper into their own sense of self and place―an approach many of us take.”
From outer-space to inner-space, these artists survey various forms of cultural artifacts to present works that hint at an interiority that is felt much deeper than what is seen on the surface. The exhibition will be on view through March 8, and don’t miss the panel discussion on January 29.
For me, this the strongest show with the most sensitive and thoughtful interpretations of the artists’s imagination, where fabric in the work of Sara Cordona function as flowing patterns that seem to be alive in their twisting and turning in space. Saba Besier’s finesse and delicate handling of a variety of media pulls the viewer in with delicate details that are not weak but suggest great strength. Her sculpture with human faces suggest that even if climate change or other disaster destroys life as we know it, man (or woman) will adapt and find a way to survive and evolve. The whole exhibit is inspiring and a fitting representative of the vital art scene in the DFW area.