Berlin-based artist Donna Huanca has had a nomadic career, having worked and exhibited in Asia, Europe and North America. But New York was Huanca's first stop. New York has been crucial to her development as an artist, having lived in the city from 2007 to 2009, then moved to Berlin and back again from 2013 to 2016.
Not long ago, she caused a sensation with her first major institutional exhibition in New York City: simultaneous exhibitions in two different large galleries. Her exhibition "Scar Tissue (Blurred Earth)" opens at Faurschou New York Gallery in October 2023. Two weeks later, Huanca opened the exhibition "Venas del Capullo" (Spanish translates to "cocoon") at the Sean Kelly Gallery. The famous gallery is known for exhibiting experimental works from the 1990s.
*“SCAR TISSUE (BLURRED EARTH)” 展览装置
Thomas Mueller © Peres Projects 2023（上）
COCOON VEINS,Sean Kelly, New York。
Huanca wraps the walls of the gallery with a translucent, biodegradable membrane,
She likens it to "the space of the womb, which functions like a petri dish,
primordial sensory signals multiply in it". (below)
If "Scar Tissue (Blurred Earth)" is about open installations, encompassing huge, vibrant paintings, perforated sculptures, live performances, and works of sound and smell, "Venas Del Capullo" is about closed installations, especially around the idea of transformation and metamorphosis. Huanca transformed the gallery space to cover the walls and floors with a biodegradable, eco-friendly plastic film – a material often used in her work to protect, obscure, and expose the bodies and surfaces that wrap around it. The result is a cocoon-like enclosed space that transforms the way the audience interacts with Huanca's paintings and sculptures.
*“SCAR TISSUE (BLURRED EARTH)” 展览期间的现场表演
"Every one of my exhibitions is a reaction to architecture. "These exhibitions prompted me to react to the history of the space: I have worked in castles, temples, basements, etc., all of which belong to spaces with history." ”
Last spring, Huanca visited the 12,000-square-foot Faurschou Gallery, a converted industrial warehouse, for the first time, when Yoko Ono's installation "Ex it, 1997-2013" was on display. It consists of 100 coffins planted with living trees. Huanca knew she wanted her exhibition to be massive. "I really like to use the scale because using it is like a giant creating something, not me. I like to create something that makes me feel small. ”
*Donna Huanca by Billie Clarken.
Image courtesy of © Peres Projects
Huanca's practice is closely linked to her creative environment: the shape of the gallery where her work will be exhibited, and the human form that is the origin of her work.
"All of the work starts with body paints that I did on my friends, and when I was drawing them, I didn't really know what I was doing. "I just talk to them, and then I choose the colors and color them as I wish." Eventually, the paintings were recorded...... This gave me the courage to paint on canvas because I wasn't interested in painting on something that didn't have history or blank space. ”
The sensory element of full immersion is very important in Huanca's work, and the obvious use of scent in the exhibition "Scar Tissue (Blurred Earth)" has always been an integral part of Huanca's work. Her olfactory works contain a scent that smells like burnt feathers and wet wood emanating from a diffuser, intended to stimulate the viewer's senses, activate their memories, and further bring them into the present moment, connecting them more closely with their bodies.
*COCOON VEINS 展出画作
"For me, using scent is a way to give you a complete experience that strongly awakens your memory. It reminds me of when I was a kid: the first perfume I ever had, or a very cheesy shampoo, these things were really special. The smell of the first time I smoke always reminds me of a particular place and time. "It's really trying to stop and give you an all-round experience." I really think it's very important to experience art these days. ”
Evoking memories is a particularly personal theme in the New York exhibition, after all, returning to New York feels a bit like coming home to Huanca. Compared to the New York she left more than a decade ago, she has returned to a brand new New York. One big change is that many of the artists who were once active in New York's underground culture scene have become commercially successful: Telfar Clemens, Shayne Oliver, and her former roommate, Richie Shazam.
"Everyone continues to do their own thing in an authentic way, and it's so exciting, for example, to see Telfar transcend pop culture and get to the point where he's joining forces with Wendy Williams or working with White Castle. Huanca said. "It's cool to see people building their communities in different ways. ”
This group mentality is crucial to how Huanca sees her place in the art world, as she is largely an outsider. Her inspiration comes not so much from the world of contemporary art as from history and experience – like nightclubs, and even history museums. While Huanca's artistic practice is a response to specific spaces, she is equally influenced by her outsider relationship with those spaces.
*Donna Huanca Studio by Billie Clarken
courtesy of © Peres Projects
"Galleries are always problematic because they all revolve around business and transactions. "[At Sean Kelly], I really wanted to create a spatial experience that was closer to an artist's studio. ”
"Scar Tissue (Blurred Earth)" is an exhibition that allows visitors to take their time and experience the delicate beauty of being lost in a labyrinth of nearly two dozen mirrored sculptures, which Huanca calls "shapeshifters" that immerse them in it. Their dependence on the visitor makes it impossible to classify: the visitor's every move in front of the work changes the work itself.
"In a way, my goal is to make time pass a little slower. Hopefully, people will appreciate that, because we live in an age where we're so focused on learning things, getting information, refreshing pages, and downloading messy stuff that it's so fast that you can't slow down and look at things patiently. Huanca said.
She feels that in a city like New York, moments of calm are especially important.
"New York is a city where all artists go. It's always sad because here, being an artist is really difficult financially because the cost of survival is so high. "Most people can't create the art they want at first. So for me, it's like a love letter to New York because I want to bring peace to people somehow. I've always seen work as an oasis: I wanted to create an oasis where people could heal, gather and connect with each other. ”
撰文：Sophia June
Translation: Wan Zhiwen
Image: From the Internet