Henry
1 April 2, 2022 – February 5, 2023
Long swaths of braided, colored hair adorn the works, like metonymic talismans. In contrast, other sculptural forms of varying scale reside throughout the landscape. Organic in silhouette and surface treatment, the sculptures reference both extraterrestrial archeology and weighty bodily presence.
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Four mural-sized paintings surround the stage, each representing one of the four seasons and bearing the same title as the exhibition. These recall themes of rebirth and regeneration: magma as the blood of the earth (the original mother), slit referencing an opening, or as the artist cites, “a stretch mark”—along with the cellular, even zygotic shapes repeated throughout. The inherent temporal seasonal cycle is enhanced by the rotation of the works throughout the run of the exhibition—such that each will occupy each of the four cardinal directions. As viewers journey through the space, they are invited to experience a kaleidoscopic engagement with their own reflection and the works.
Huanca’s installations encompass painting, sculpture, and live performance, and are characteristically created for, and integrated with, the specific architectural spaces in which they are presented. Her art is deeply invested in ritual practice as a means for transcendence, meditation, and transformation. As the title of the installation, MAGMA SLIT, suggests, Huanca’s recent work melds those concerns with her ongoing investigation of earthly cycles (both macro and micro in scale) of birth, death, decay, and renewal.
For this commissioned exhibition, the artist has created an immersive environment consisting of a vast stage of interlocking ovoid/cellular forms, landscaped with white sand and supporting six mirrored “screen” sculptures. The steel sculptures, each titled PUERTA DE TRENZAS (BRAID DOOR), have precision cuts excised into each surface—studies of texture and color that explore the absence of the body.
Artist Donna Huanca (b. 1980, Chicago, IL) creates work that destabilizes the male gaze while exploring femme and indigenous narratives and mark-making, while celebrating renewal and decay— the natural world and all its chaos.
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— SHAMIM M. MOMIN
large, curved corner wall hosts a wall rubbing, as does the turret space. Executed in a private performance by an invited dancer as a proxy for the artist, the rubbings provide human scale to the monumentality of the site. They function both as trace of the individual, as well as the body in space, writ large. Viewers enter the turret individually, and within that intimate space—both heightening and relieving the vast and destabilizing journey through the gallery—experience the sound and olfactory works as well. Huanca layers the scents in the olfactory piece from site to site, adding elements evocative of the different natural region they inhabit. Smell being recognized as one of the strongest triggers of memory, the artist intends the notes of wet, burnt earth, palo santo, copal, and leather, among other subtle cues, to free the space for the viewer’s individual translation and connection. The sound piece heard in the space exists as four chapters, referencing the four elements, seasons, and cardinal directions. Huanca refers to them as “sonic collages”— samples from her surroundings and people in her life and online— which function as a meditative guide, both for the audience and when the exhibition is activated by performers.
A complete sensory experience, the installation aims to evoke a slippage of space and time inviting participants to both find and lose themselves. Throughout the length of the exhibition, the Henry, the artist, and cultural performers of all genres will work together to produce a series of programs in dialogue with the exhibition’s themes, performed on a sculptural auxiliary stage created expressly for those events.
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MOONSTONE FRAGMENT #3, 2022
MOONSTONE FRAGMENT #4, 2022
PUERTA DE TRENZAS (BRAID DOOR), 2022
Stainless steel, synthetic hair, oil paint, resin 6 parts, each: 79 x 78 x 16 in. (201 x 197 x 40 cm); overall: 79 x 468 x 16 in. (201 x 1182 x 40 cm)
TORSO FRAGMENT #1, 2022
MAGMA SLIT EAR, 2022 Audio installation; 60 mins.
DNA DIARY, 2022
Pgs: 14, 15–16
Acrylic resin, latex and resin paint
MAGMA SLIT (FALL), 2021
4 parts, each: 130 x 91 in. (330 x 35.75 cm); overall: 130 x 364 in. (330 x 924.5 cm)
30 ¾ x 17 x 19 ¾ in. (78 x 43 x 50 cm)
MAGMA SLIT SCENT, 2022 Olfactory installation
MAGMA SLIT (WINTER), 2021
All works in the exhibition by Donna Huanca, courtesy of Peres Projects, Berlin
Cast aluminum 56 ¼ x 27 ½ x 28 in. (143 x 70 x 71 cm) Pgs: 9, 10, 19
Pgs: 4, 17–18
MOONSTONE FRAGMENT #1, 2022
Acrylic resin, latex and resin paint
Pg: 19
Pg: 20
Pgs: 6, 20
Acrylic resin, latex and resin paint
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MAGMA SLIT (SPRING), 2021
Pgs: 14, 20
Acrylic resin, latex and resin paint
16 ½ x 13 x 11 ¾ in. (42 x 33 x 30 cm)
16 ½ x 13 x 11 ¾ in. (42 x 33 x 30 cm)
4 parts, each: 130 x 91 in. (330 x 35.75 cm); overall: 130 x 364 in. (330 x 924.5 cm)
Oil paint, sand on digital print on canvas
Acrylic resin, latex and resin paint
Oil paint, sand on digital print on canvas
MAGMA SLIT BODY RUBBING, 2022 Body paint
MOONSTONE FRAGMENT #2, 2022
4 parts, each: 130 x 91 in. (330 x 35.75 cm); overall: 130 x 364 in. (330 x 924.5 cm)
Pg: 20
Oil paint, sand on digital print on canvas
32 x 15 ¾ x 17 in. (81 x 40 x 43 cm)
Pgs: 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 19–20
Pg: 19
MAGMA SLIT (SUMMER), 2021
TORSO FRAGMENT #2, 2022
4 parts, each: 130 x 91 in. (330 x 35.75 cm); overall: 130 x 364 in. (330 x 924.5 cm) Pgs: 5–6, 7–8, 19–20
Acrylic resin, latex and resin paint
Pgs: Cover, 9, 10, 11–12, 20
14 ½ x 15 x 13 in. (37 x 38 x 33 cm)
15 ¾ x 13 x 11 ¾ in. (40 x 33 x 30 cm)
Oil paint, sand on digital print on canvas
Jill EricSylviaLenaTiffanyPhilSageDavidIanBobAnnRubinaNickMaxTriciaEricaAdamShamimKatieMarkieSophiaMitaBeretteCJSummerLeiningerLiMcCarrickMacaulayMahatoMarciniakMickelsonMillerM.MominMonohonMontinePearsonPethePironioPostmaPoulsonRiniSiporinSmithSommerSteyhTurpinWhittleWolfZimmerman
Maisea Bailey
TEAM HENRY
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Erin JeeSookLauraDanielleAmeliaRachelClaireMariahTrevorNanBrittneyOrlandoStephanieStephanieJeffMadeleineHannahFionaHaroldEmilyMargaritaNinaEmilyMaxTanjaBaldnerBaumannBebackBlancheBozicnikBurnett-ThomasCanningChurchillIIIClarkHuntCorpuzCraigDeveauxEistetterFinkFranciscoFranteceGarrisonGoosenIrwinKennyAnnKesslerKetzelKhleangKinneyKutz
Tony Lasley
All artwork by Donna Huanca, courtesy of Peres Projects, Berlin
©JonathanStephanieDESIGNERFoundation.FinkPHOTOGRAPHYVanderweit2022HenryArtGallery.
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Donna Huanca: MAGMA SLIT is organized by Shamim M. Momin, Director of Curatorial Affairs. Lead sponsorship is provided by a gift from the Friday Foundation in honor of Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis and a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Media sponsorship provided by The Stranger. Performances for Donna Huanca: MAGMA SLIT are supported by a grant from the Nesholm Family