KARLA EKATHERINE CANSECO
ENSOÑACIÓN FUGITIVIA
SOLO EXHIBITION (MAIN GALLERY)
EXHIBITION DATES: 7TH MAY 2022 to 4TH JUNE 2022
OPENING RECEPTION: SAT, MAY 7TH FROM 6:00 - 9:00 PM
GALLERY HOURS: TUES - SAT / 1 PM - 6 PM
NEW IMAGE ART. 7920 SANTA MONICA BLVD. LOS ANGELES. CA. 90046

New Image Art is pleased to present “Ensoñación Fugitiva,” the debut solo exhibition of sculptor Karla Ekatherine Canseco opening Saturday, May 7th, from 6:00 - 9:00 PM.

Karla Ekatherine Canseco constructs a multifaceted dreamscape of ceramics and metal as forces of healing.

Uncovering love can be scarce in this cruel world as our humanity dissolves through past familial traumas and the current upheaval. The instances of much-needed hope can be found through wild guides of differing species; these conductors of care could be none other than perros (dogs). Dogs act as the ultimate vehicle of love and are a reflection of a more empathic society. Canseco centers this exhibition around these phantasmal beasts, creating altar-like installations for each creature as a tribute to their power in helping humanity foster radical love for the self and for others. The ceramic dogs emit a sense of security, reflecting their historical significance as guardians of mortality and death in various cultures. For Canseco, this phenomenon is nothing new. In Mexico, dogs have been celebrated for centuries as being spiritual guides. She pays homage to her family in Puebla by collaging her custom of Talavera -style tiles enmeshed within her vessels. The abstracted ceramic dog figures represent the nature of the beast as being scrappy in form and kind at heart. The ceramic anamorphic sculptures are constructed with shreds of leftover ceramic pieces and then inlaced with metal soldering details and silver charms. The artist intentionally uses all the broken pieces to make them whole again.

Canseco uses semiotics of the dog and the home to create her own lore. Just as dogs offer us teachings about our inner self, clay offers a healing effect to the body; the sheer physicality of the material seeps into one's being. The symbolism entrenched in every choice the artist made stems from her yearning to reconcile the home, the body, and her future. Historically clay has been the earliest physical medium of civilization, which is congruent to metal’s utilitarian use; she binds these mediums together, creating avante-guarde sculptures commemorating resiliency and dreams of kinship. The metal tables and ceramics center around familiar domestic objects and backyard elements. The melding of these homely debris morphed with animals creates a transcendental cannibalistic creation of fantasy.

Karla Ekatherine Canseco (b. 1996) is a Latinx gay interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Her practice explores the nuances of identity through different mediums, particularly clay and performance. She incorporates the body knowledge that she has inherited from her family as immigrant workers into her work and as an access point to interpreting power dynamics. She is interested in how the body carries information that has been passed down and is present in all movement; She is intrigued by the way the body collapses conceptions of time such as past and present. Karla finds parallels between clay and the body by the way in which they both hold memory/history through impression and in containing what is present in the atmosphere. Her interest in the body’s holding of knowledge is explored through making. Karla reinterprets her own history and translates it through sculptures by merging different symbols that represent her family’s immediate history but also its sociopolitical implications.