As this past summer began to shed the last layers of New England cold, Rhode Island artist John C. Gonzalez presented his first mini-retrospective at Brown University, in the David Winton Bell Gallery. Curated by Ian Alden Russell, the exhibition was a quiet and beautiful collection of Gonzalez’s work, tied by a common thread of collaboration, the visibility of labor, and the capacity to create in unexpected places. The show, titled Works Well With Others featured multiple interdisciplinary works across the mediums of painting, sculpture, and performance. Most notably, Gonzalez worked collectively with a group of employees from Bel Terra Landscaping, a landscaping company contracted by Brown for maintenance of the campus grounds, as well as Verde Design + Horticulture, to build a lush indoor garden in the heart of the exhibition. Created by John C. Gonzalez along with Juan Reyes, Pamela Rodgers, Julin Sanchez, Philip Taylor, and Julin Vasquez, the garden produced a shared space for personal reflection and self-healing.

Home Depot House, 2013 | Designed and installed in collaboration with store employees inside Home Depot store in Providence, RI | Photo by Shane Godfrey

The Brown retrospective captured Gonzalez’s passion as an artist, his constant conversation with art and institutions of labor, the daily exchange of human interaction, and the ways in which creativity is promoted or stifled in a flourishing era of capitalism. “Works Well With Others was about embedding myself into spaces where self-expression is not always encouraged or productive,” says Gonzalez, whose interest in working collectively with laborers stems from his own experience as a tradesman and retail worker. “In these spaces, I wanted to create moments for creativity and exploration.”

In 2013, Gonzalez was commissioned by the deCordova Biennial to create his project, Home Depot House (2013-14). Employed in Providence by the giant home improvement retailer at the time, he worked with his fellow co-workers to build a house. “In a place like Home Depot, you do not really have an opportunity to be super creative,” he acknowledges. “It is not really designed for that space because it is a retail environment. So for me, to work with management to be able to make something that was ours was subversive, because the power structure didn’t initially allow for it. And for me, art is a powerful thing.” From building a home to building a garden, Gonzalez stretches the space between formal art and craftsmanship, enabling art to have a broader sphere and wider accessibility to those who may not consider themselves artists.

Several works from Painting Library, 2017. Part of an installation where visitors may borrow paintings from the collection for the duration of the exhibition at Essex Art Center in Lawrence, MA | Photo courtesy the artist.

Outside of his collaborative sculpture and performance work, Gonzalez is a painter at heart; along with being a full-time father of two, he works at a paint shop by day. Finding collectivity in the seemingly mundane is central to Gonzalez’s artistic approach. “As artists, anytime we buy supplies for our work, like paint, someone had to make that, which leads to a transaction. Every time we find things or buy things, there is always a collaborative relationship, no matter what you do—like buying gas or buying clothing. For me, it is something that shouldn’t be overlooked, but instead be put at the forefront. It makes us reexamine all of these relationships we have every day with people, because we are all creating and doing.”

In June, Gonzalez will be presenting Painting Library, a solo exhibition at the Essex Art Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where visitors will be able to borrow paintings from the show for the duration of the exhibition. That same month, he’ll also be featured in a group show curated by John Finnerty and Francisco Gonzalez at The Wurks in Providence.

Portrait of John C. Gonzalez in studio | Photo courtesy the artist

John C. Gonzalez – interdisciplinary artist
Providence, Rhode Island
Website
Portfolio

Top photo Collaborative Garden, 2016 | Designed and installed in collaboration with Bel Terra employees inside David Winton Bell Gallery in Providence, RI | Photograhy by Jesse Banks III

This post has been updated to reflect recent changes.

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What have you been up to in the last nine months since we spoke?

Well, let’s see… it’s been a busy year so far. At the very beginning of the year, the dead of winter, I hibernated, planned new projects, and snuggled with my three dogs. In the spring, I did a residency at the Mass MoCA studios in North Adams, MA through a cool organization called Assets for Artists. While I was there, I started on the lion’s share of work for the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park and Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) Biennials coming up this fall, and met a group of super talented artists and equally good people.

Installation view: Left:”Hangover rag rug”, ink drawing on cut paper 2015 | Right: “New England Short Stack” crochet thread, panel nails on wall, ink on thread | photo by Michael Winters

Shortly after that, my day job as a producer for a small creative branding agency brought me to Munich and the Alps, a place I had never been, and was promptly blown away by those mountains! In late spring/early summer I had work in group shows at Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, and George Marshall Store Gallery in York, Maine. Also, I got really into container gardening this year, and built a vertical planter, which I’ve wanted to do for years.

Index (Mountains)
Ink on paper in color stained frame, 2016 | 20.5 x 27.25 inches | Photo by Stewart Clements

In late summer, I found out I was the 2016 recipient of an Artist Advancement Grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and I could not be more grateful and excited! And here we are—at present, I’m mentoring a few students this semester as part of the New Hampshire Institute of Art low-residency MFA program, finishing up work for the CMCA biennial, starting new work for a solo show at Carroll and Sons in Boston during late January, and looking forward to the deCordova Biennial opening on Oct. 6th.

What can visitors expect to see from you during the upcoming biennials at the deCordova and CMCA?

The work that I have in the deCordova Biennial is all new, and mostly new at CMCA. In the last year, my work has been very focused on landscape and ecology—and connecting these subjects conceptually with everyday objects, and asking questions like: How do everyday objects in the domestic realm relate to a natural landscape? How does our everyday world expand and connect to a larger framework? I am working with the Life Nature Library book series a lot this year—making painted trompe-l’oeil objects that look like the books, and at the same time are asking—is this a landscape painting? As well as making drawings where I copy the entire index of these books and am asking—is this a landscape drawing? Examples from this body of work is in both Biennials.

What is your art—whether a recreation of a rug, phone book, beach chair, or some other everyday object—trying to communicate?

I want my work to inspire viewers to look closer at everyday life. I want to help educate perception. I think that we can find wonder in the everyday, if only we just slightly shift our view, keep our eyes open, and are willing to see the connection between things.  I want to make work born from this place and have it inspire in others a desire to interact with the tangible/ physical world. To roam, to touch, to seek, to ask questions and to have reverence for the history that is contained in places, and also the grandeur of nature and this planet we inhabit.

(Untitled) Blanket acrylic, ink and correction fluid on wood, 2015
52hx49wx1d | Photo by Michael Winters 20

Drawing great attention to the unremarkable calls into question what can be considered precious and worthy of investigation. Rooted in observation and taking the form of drawings, painted objects, and installations, my work aims to bend perceptions of the things we recognize and experience as common and everyday, thus creating a deeper awareness of the experience of “seeing,” and allowing for unexpected connections to be made between concept, materials, and the iconography of objects. As much an experiment with materials as a behavioral study of the familiar and analog, my work engages the viewer in an active game of questioning perceptions by dissecting, duplicating and mimicking the objects, underlying patterns and organizing systems that make up the backdrop of our lives.

The term ‘Trompe L’oeil’ literally means “to fool the eye” but I like to think of it as meaning “pay attention, look closer, have awareness, alter your perception.” If my work can disarm the viewer and cause them to truly be in present time for just a moment when they are looking at my art, that’s what I consider a successful piece.

Undoubtedly a lot of time goes into each of your pieces. Can you describe the process?

At its beginning/discovery phase, it is non-linear, experimental, and subject to chance. Once a project is underway my process slows and becomes more about the repetitive and meditative.

My background is in painting, and I guess at some point, I wanted to allow myself the freedom to think outside of one particular media, and only two dimensions. Once I gave myself that permission, I realized that there are lots of materials I want to work with and learn about, and lots of different objects in the world that I was curious about. I think keeping that sense of wonder and curiosity alive about the everyday stuff and sites of life are what drive me to make work.

I will come across “perfect objects” out in the world, and these things have often been used, like an old beach chair or map, and I like to dissect them, figure out how they were made, and how they behave. I combine that with an interest in materials themselves—like loving the way hand-folded metal looks, or how multiple lines drawn on paper can add up to mimic thread or woven textile—and I make honest work about it. I look, handle, inspect and recreate in an effort to understand. Deception is not the major goal—it’s understanding. That process is everything to me. The final piece is like an artifact of this investigation.

Untitled (plant hardiness zone map) Acrylic and ink on folded aluminum 20 x31 inches | Photo by Stewart Clements 2016

My process of recreating objects to mimic the original is derived from a desire to really understand how an object behaves, how it is made, and how it causes or reacts to human encounters. I’m also interested in how the process of repetitive mark making has a rhythmic, satisfying, meditative quality.

Photo by Tammy Byron

Carly Glovinskiis a multi-media artist working in Dover, New Hampshire. Be sure to visit her website and sign up for her newsletter for updates and messages from the artist.    

Top photo second multi-rag rug, ink and correction fluid on paper, 2014 | 34h x 46w | Photo courtesy of the Carly Glovinski

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I’m a little biased towards this sculpture park and museum – it was a quick drive from where grew up and walking the grounds as a teen was a budget-friendly free. Originally a summer house for visual art enthusiast and merchant Julian de Cordova (1851-1945), it was built in 1910 and made to resemble a European castle. After his death, the house was left to the town on the condition that it be turned into a museum. It appears the first group of trustees took one look at Mr. de Cordova’s own collection and decided to go in another direction, luckily for us. This initial board made a unique and bold decision to become the only museum in the northeast to focus entirely on modern, contemporary, living, New England artists. They opened in 1950 and have been a major collector and exhibitor ever since, officially becoming the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in 2009.

The deCordova’s 4th iteration of it’s biennial this fall is a mix of inside and outside works, taking full advantage of the acres of grounds. This year’s invited artists will be installing work in two locations outside and on two floors of the museum itself, in the Joyce & Edward Linde and Dewey Family Galleries, respectively.

Mike, Fanny, Martin + Maya Ladd, Paris, France, 2014 | Tanja Hollander | archival pigment print | Collection of deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum | Gift of Mary, Bill, Elizabeth and Claudia Koch in memory of Cathy England

Take Magazine was excited to see our good friend Tanja Hollander’s name among this year’s invitees. If you haven’t been following along with her ‘Are you really my friend?‘ adventures on social media, you are missing out. This ambitious project has sent our intrepid photographer around the world capturing images of all her facebook friends in their home environments, she’s occupying her digital world. We reached out to see what sort of work she’ll be contributing, “I tried to pull a group that was diverse, class, race, location. But really the best part of being in the show was the great studio visit I had with (Chief Curator) Jennifer Gross.” A perfect way to get a peek of the installation she’ll be ‘posting’ in its entirety at MASS MoCa in spring 2017.

Formwork for Hill House, 2013 | Fritz Horstman | pine, 7x10x2 inches | Courtesy of the Artist

Outside, visitors will have a chance to socialize with Fritz Horstman’s wooden Formwork for a Spiral Movement and Tobias Putrih’s interactive, blocks installation Double Exchange. Both pieces embrace the deCordova’s touch-me criteria and allow guests to become more than just viewers. Putrih himself will host a drop-in workshop on Sept 17th to activate his sculpture.

Artists are displaying works in a variety of mediums inside the galleries. Theresa Ganz and Heather Leigh McPherson will be using both digital and manual techniques, writer Ashley Bryan will be displaying original collages from one of his most celebrated books, All Things Bright and Beautiful, in addition to holding a reading, and Carly Glovinski will be showing her sculptures and facilitating a series of art-making workshops throughout the event. “I’m honored to have been selected for the 2016 Biennial and excited to have the opportunity to be showing new work at this world-class institution. The museum curators and staff have been supportive throughout- from the first studio visits through the installation.”, affirmed Glovinski. Biennials allow a venue to hold multi-faceted exhibits celebrating and restating their focus and purpose and the deCordova is mining its wealth of New England talent with this show. We’ve included a list of all the participating artists below.

The Female Dollar, 2015 | Heather Leigh McPherson | painted chiffon, cast epoxy, drawing pad, lighter | Courtesy of the artist

The Biennial artists are: Academy Records, Ashley Bryan, Lois Dodd, Theresa Ganz, Carly Glovinski, Tanja Hollander, Timothy Horn, Fritz Horstman, Susan Howe, Heather Leigh McPherson, Youjin Moon, Kelly Nipper, Jason Noushin, Tobias Putrih, Cary Smith, and Craig Stockwell.

deCordova New England Biennial 2016
October 7, 2016–March 26, 2017
Lincoln, MA

Top image: Callisto 2014 | Youjin Moon | video, sound | Courtesy of the artist and DM Contemporary, New York, NY

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