Jovencio de la Paz
Innumerable _______
hold close the _______
June 6 – July 13, 2019

HOLDING Contemporary presents two new series of textile artworks by Jovencio de la Paz that explore spatial tension and utilitarian objecthood. The exhibition includes massive canvas constructions inspired by Ursula LeGuin’s 1986 essay, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,”  and a series of colorfully exuberant patchwork quilt strips that vertically stretch from the floor and visually anchor the large-scale canvas artworks. Innumerable _______ hold close the ________ opens with a reception Thursday, June 6 from 6 – 8 pm. The exhibit runs from June 6 through July 13, 2019, and gallery hours are noon – 5 pm, Thursday through Saturday.

Jovencio de la Paz’s interest in the history of textiles led him to Ursula LeGuin’s story of speculative fiction which suggests the carrier bag as both necessity for early human cooperative gathering and symbol of storytelling. De la Paz further interprets the contemporary canvas bag and suggests multiple readings as emblem, product and tool. in his new series, De la Paz intentionally distorts the object’s visual language by subverting pragmatic functionality as volume and proportion are enlarged, handles are multiplied, and openings are shifted or denied. His alterations elicit propositional modes of engagement and the artist invites discourse through meticulously crafted, lifelike sculptural works evocative of bodily presence and absence, anthropomorphically slumping and folding in repose. View all works in the exhibition here.

Jovencio de la Paz received a Master of Fine Art in Fibers from the Cranbrook Academy of Art (2012) and a Bachelor of Fine Art with an emphasis on Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008). He has exhibited work in solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, most recently at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, Colorado; Ditch Projects, Springfield, OR; The Art Gym, Marylhusrt, OR; ThreeWalls, Chicago, IL; The Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR; Casey Droege Cultural Productions, Pittsburgh, PA; The Alice, Seattle, WA; Carl & Sloan Contemporary Art, Portland, OR; 4th Ward Projects, Chicago, IL; SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME; The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, OH; SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA; Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center, Chicago; The Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Uri Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, among others. He regularly teaches at schools of art, craft, and design throughout the country, such as the Ox Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan, the Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine, and the Arrowmont School of Craft in Tennessee. He is also a co-founder of the collaborative group Craft Mystery Cult, established in 2010.   

Photo by Mario Gallucci