ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Blue Star Contemporary (BSC) and Sala Diaz are pleased to present Reclaimed by Nature, curated by Claudia Arozqueta. This is the first in a series of collaborative exhibitions at BSC organized by participants of Sala Diaz’ Casa Chuck Residency, an international invitational program for curators and critics. About the exhibition Arozqueta states:

The relationship between humankind and nature leans toward a dichotomous visualization in which both entities are independent from—and non-contingent upon—each another. This conceptualization, forged in industrial age furnaces, leads to obsessive attempts to master and control nature, but this perceived binary is fallacious. Mutual feedback between the natural environment and human civilization is unavoidable: what effects one always reverberates in the other, as we dramatically witness on a day-to-day basis.

Featuring the work of Mexico City- and San Antonio-based artists from multiple generations, Reclaimed by Nature reflects upon the problematic coexistence and fragile boundaries between human industriousness and the natural world. Exploring environmental interventions of man-made artifacts and spaces, the works on display examine and celebrate natural forces as a timely reminder to attain a much-needed balance between what we create and what exists despite of us.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Claudia Arozqueta is co-founder and co-curator of Modelab, an interdisciplinary agora for social and artistic research. From 2011 to 2013, she was Director of Enjoy Public Art Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, and has curated numerous exhibitions including Surveillance Awareness Bureau, Modelab, Wellington (2015); Crossing Boundaries, Winzavod Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (2010); and A Place in Time, Camp Street, San Antonio, Texas (A CAM San Antonio event, 2006).

Arozqueta is a regular contributor to Artforum.com and Art-Agenda, and has published extensively in magazines, newspapers and journals including Artnews, Flash Art, Leonardo, The Moscow Times and Seismopolite. She also served as a lecturer at Victoria University in Wellington, and Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Her latest body of research, “Heartbeats and Art: A Historical Connection,” will be published by Leonardo/MIT Press this year. Arozqueta is currently based in Sydney, Australia.

ABOUT THE CASA CHUCK RESIDENCY & BSC PARTNERSHIP

A program of Sala Diaz, the Casa Chuck Residency began in 2012 to honor the legacy of visionary artist, arts advocate, cultural maven and bon vivant Chuck Ramirez (1962-2010). The residency’s primary goals are to preserve Ramirez’ former home as a site of social connectivity and cultural exchange, to foster the careers of exceptional individuals working in the contemporary arts and to generate meaningful and lasting exchange between San Antonio-based artists and creative communities abroad. Housed in the same residential structure as Sala Diaz, participants spend one month in Ramirez’ former abode, exploring and interacting with the surrounding arts community.

Chuck Ramirez was a Board Member and avid supporter of Blue Star Contemporary. This collaboration celebrates that legacy while providing a platform for contemporary art dialogues sparked by Casa Chuck’s dynamic participants.

ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHIES  

Alejandro Almanza Pereda, Dulce Chacón, Daniela Edburg, Joey Fauerso, Buster Graybill, Jasmyne Graybill, Arturo Hernández Alcázar, Sofía Taboás, Raul Ortega Ayala, Kristy Perez, Ethel Shipton

IMAGE Daniela Edburg, Patio, 2015; Lambda print on Duratrans 41.5 x 27.5 inches

MEDIA CONTACT Inessa Kosub, Public Affairs & Engagement Manager, Blue Star Contemporary inessa@bluestarart.org  210.227.6960