An Inherent View of the World

Project Space // Juana Valdes: An Inherent View of the World
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^{Mindy Solomon Gallery}

Multi-media installation artist Juana Valdes uses her training in Western post-modern philosophy, printmaking, photography, sculpture and ceramics to explore issues of transculturation, pigmentocracy, history and memory. In the past, Valdes worked with maps, ships and sailing motifs to investigate the complexities of identity in the face of shifting national/political borders as well as the history of human migration. More recently, Valdes began working with bone china porcelain, traditionally distinguished and valued for its whiteness and translucency and documented as an important commodity in the history of trade between Europe and Asia. By inserting pigments during fabrication into the clay and manipulating its chemical composition, Valdes created artworks which serve as metaphors for the mythology of whiteness in our society. In the current project on view, Valdes encourages us to ponder the history of global trade and colonialism by presenting a monumental installation of vintage china and domestic wares she has collected from antiques shops, flea markets and estate sales/auctions. 

The business of selling and trading china has been intrinsically tied to European overseas expeditions and transmigrations, and the first public company to issue negotiable shares – and the model for many of today’s corporations – was a Dutch trading company created in 1602 for selling china from Asia to European countries. The Dutch East India Company’s hugely successful trade with Asian countries made the Dutch a major global commercial trader and led to the formation of other trading companies eager to participate in the highly profitable business. Over time, new industries resulted when European companies began manufacturing domestic china and many Asian companies likewise arose to produce china specifically for European export. Valdes displays examples of china made in different countries and time periods, and each piece embodies the cultural values of its time/place, reflecting aesthetic and economic decisions made by the manufacturer and by consumers. Not to be forgotten in this economic chain of activities is the woman who purchased these domestic wares to be used by her family, and Valdes invites us to think about how the design and decorative patterns on plates, cups and other pieces of china often provided children in these households with their first aesthetic experience. 

Not surprisingly, all this historic economic activity included constantly searching for competitive business advantages, especially the advantage gained when entities can take resources without paying for them. Colonialism, a natural offshoot of global trading, has resulted in skewed racial relationships between lighter-skinned people and the darker-skinned -- with profound consequences that impact us today. By presenting this Duchampian artwork created with the collection and arrangement of seemingly simple domestic wares, Valdes offers us an opportunity to engage with and re-examine the myriad issues available here:  globalization, hybridization, economics, labor production, cultural identity, migration, valuation, aesthetics, collecting, selling, women’s history and even the possibilities of art.

The upcoming solo exhibition explores notions of culture memory, place, production and chronology. This new installation entitled ‘An Inherent View of the World’ presents the final summation of multiple residencies started since 2012 and the introduction of bone china as working material. Opening Reception will take place Friday, October 23rd, from 6-9pm at the gallery.

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