ARTIST BREAKDOWN P.V: UnBound11!
UnBound11!
ANNUAL JURIED + INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION
July 1 - August 6, 2022
Follow along over the next few weeks as we spotlight works currently on view at Candela Gallery. This summer group exhibition is our annual open call and is dedicated to featuring a wide range of photographic artworks, fine art photography, and artist books. We are proud of UnBound's mission to generate opportunities and exposure beyond the traditional group or juried show by providing a collection opportunity for artists. All funds raised throughout the show, help us reach our 2022 goal of 10k to support participating artists by acquiring work into the Candela Collection, which will one day be donated to an institution. Visit our shop to give, purchase the exhibition catalog, and/or snag some Candela merch. 100% of the proceeds raised will go towards supporting participating artists.
JOSEPH HEIDECKER
Chateau, 2021. Mixed Media, 11 x 8.5 inches. Unique. $900
I look at photographs and think how they are frozen moments in time.
Time is constantly moving forward and for me, that brings to mind nostalgic ideas of ourselves, our identity & our relationship in the world.
I think about processes that physically create a 2D photograph, then apply the hand manipulating processes through embroidery, beading, found objects and other assemblages. The photographs spark new stories through which I find my language.
JAMIE HO
Comb to the End (Still), 2022, Archival Pigment Print, 20 x 16 inches. Edition 1 of 5 + 2 AP. $500
In my current work, I use photography, GIFs, short-looped video, and sound to critique the ways Euro-America consumes and objectifies Asiatic/Chinese femme-bodies. I have spent most of my life making attempts to assimilate into the hegemony of American culture, and through this experience, I have struggled with the societal pressure to fit my body into the idealized mold of femininity as prescribed by Euro-American heteronormative standards. However this is an impossible task, as my body will always be seen as perpetually foreign in the eyes of other Americans. This realization shifted my attempts from assimilation into American culture to assimilation into the intersectionality and intricacies of my identities, as Chinese American and queer. Drawing from my mother’s flawed knowledge regarding ancestral traditions and rituals, I create simulations of such traditions as a method of assimilation. I use the aesthetics of camp, drag, and the lighting studio as a vehicle to subvert the rituals my mother performs that bring prosperity and wealth into the family and home. By performing simulations of rituals within my work, I demonstrate the ways Euro-America has conflated objectness with East Asiatic femme-bodies.
JOEL JIMENEZ
The Island, 2020. Archival Pigment Print, 25.6 x 19.2 inches. Edition 1 of 10 + 2AP. $800
Castle of Innocence delves into the imaginative space of the Children's Museum of Costa Rica and its cultural heritage as the former Central Prison to examine the power dynamics present in the control of narratives and perception of history.
By working with archive material from the prison period, staged reproductions of the prison's cells, and symbolic objects and environments from the Children's Museum, the project questions the historical use of photography as a document of truth, the role of memory in the reconstruction of identities, and the influence of the past in our relationship with reality.
The project uses a nonlinear narrative to confront the imprints of trauma and violence from the building's past as a prison with the illusory environments from the museum's current context. This strategy creates a new space for interpretation in which apparent reoccurrences and contradictions arise, the boundaries between reality and fiction start to dissolve, and a renewed sense of place-identity surfaces.
The imagery that constitutes the series develops an ominous atmosphere associated with the secrecy of information and the creation of myths; various leitmotifs are used, such as the repetition of artifacts related to the examination of knowledge or the analysis of gestures within the archive material through image juxtaposition and intervention.
The study of the Children's Museum provides ground for a reflection on the passivity of our gaze towards images, the relevance of imagination in our understanding of reality, and the liminal space between protection and control in our current post-truth era.
HUGH KRETSCHMER
Plastic "Wave" #3, 2020. Archival Pigment Print, 20 x 24 inches. Edition of 25. $1250
Plastic "Waves" is a visual commentary on the effects of human behavior on our oceans and seas. Each "wave" is sculpted out of recycled materials, most notably plastic garbage bags. My objective for this project is to benefit nonprofits devoted to water conservation through gallery print and book sales.
JAKE LAHAH
Ezra on the Kitchen Floor, 2022. UV Print on Acrylic, Laser Cut to Shape, and Collaged, 48 x 40 x ¾ inches. Unique. $1500
These images are various shots of a photographic installation I have been playing with. This work layers flat on the ground as an installation piece.
I utilize printmaking, photography, and the subversion of printshop technology to create works touching on topics of family, fashion, drag, imagination, and storytelling on the fringes of queer identity. Fabrication, replicas, reproductions, and printmaking are the center of my practice where facsimiles and humor act as a site of relief from the realities many queer people face in the U.S.
"Ezra on the Kitchen Floor," is a large photographic reproduction and installation of my partner's dog made from UV printing on acrylic and laser cut to shape. By collaging the cutout with prints of victorian kitchen tiles, moths, and flowers blooming, I meditate on the love we feel for our dog through his interactions with nature and the likeness that is apparent in the printed objects. It reinforces how Ezra is a staple in the queer family we have created.
