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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Libby Black Works Out in California and
Modesto Covarrubias Comes Home
to San Jose
Life-Sized Installations Create Immersive Spaces
that Explore
Desire, Deception, Seduction and Escapism
SAN JOSE, CA - The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) will present two new
installations opening in April 2010. Libby Black's Work Out will make its California premiere
in the ICA's Cardinale Project Room on April 10 and run through June 19.
Modesto Covarrubias: Liminal, an immersive sculptural installation by San Jose
native Modesto Covarrubias will be on view in the Focus Gallery from April 10 to July 3.
An opening reception for both exhibitions will be held on Friday, May 7 from 6pm to 8pm.
In conjunction with these shows, the ICA will host two Talking Art programs at the gallery
from 7-9pm: a conversation with Libby Black on Thursday, May 13, and an evening with
Modesto Covarrubias on Thursday, June 10.
Libby Black's sculptural installation, Work Out, is a life-sized paper replica of a home
gym replete with famous fashion brand accessories. Using paper, paint and hot glue,
Black's Work Out presents a fantasy world of luxury goods. The artist has created a fully
equipped shrine to fitness and consumerism including a Prada stationary bike, a Louis
Vuitton bench press, a Burberry punching bag and a Chanel weight belt. The individual
pieces are exact replicas of traditional workout equipment yet the luxury brand
identification and detailing in the pieces reveal the decidedly DIY nature of the work. As
a result, the hand-made quality of the perfectly faux equipment and accessories reveal
the seduction and deception inherent in the work.
Modesto Covarrubias: Liminal is an immersive site-specific installation exploring ideas
related to shelter, memories and imagined space. As the first emerging artist to
participate in the ICA's series of immersive solo exhibitions, Covarrubias joins established
Bay Area artists including Theodora Varnay Jones, Christel Dillbohner, Chris Dorosz, Lewis
DeSoto and Tim Horn, who have also presented large-scale installations in the ICA's
Focus Gallery. As a child, Covarrubias built forts, houses and spaceships - drawing
elaborate plans and maps to render his creations. He has long been involved in
investigations of space and how it can alter and be altered by one's mental state. And
just as the artist created forts, rooms and spaces as a child to transport himself into
fantasy worlds, he employs similar processes today to explore and portray his
present-day emotions and experiences. Covarrubias' multi-media pieces are constructed
primarily from paper attached or hung from a room-sized armature made from materials
including steel wire, monofilament, wood, and PVC pipe.
These exhibitions exemplify the ICA's commitment to presenting immersive and
thought-provoking installations. "When we walk into each space, we are completely
engaged in each artist's distinct vision," says Susan O'Malley, ICA Assistant Curator.
"With Black, we are confronted with a bizarre consumer fantasy world while Covarrubias'
ethereal installation heightens our awareness of the ICA's architecture. This push and
pull between each installation provides a space for our imaginations to explore and invites
reflection, discovery and connections," explains O'Malley.
Born in Ohio and raised in Texas, Libby Black now lives and works in Berkeley, CA.
She received her MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco in
2001, and received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1999. Her work has been
shown extensively throughout the United States in solo and group exhibitions, and is held
in both private and public collections in California, New York and Europe, including the
Orange County Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum of Art, and The Chaney Family
Collection in Houston, Texas.
Modesto Covarrubias is a San Jose-native who lives and works in Berkeley, CA.
Covarrubias recently graduated with a MFA in Studio Art from Mills College, and in 2005
earned a BFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute. Covarrubias' work has
been exhibited in Italy, New York City and throughout the Bay Area.
Image Captions:
Modesto Covarrubias, detail of Futility Tower, 2009, Mills College Art Museum, tissue paper, steel wire, pvc pipe, concrete, mixed media
Libby Black, Work Out, 2007, mixed media installation, Courtesy of the Artist and Marx and Zavattero, SF
The
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art gratefully acknowledges support
from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Andy Warhol
Foundation for the Visual Arts, The James Irvine Foundation, Adobe
Systems Incorporated, and members of the ICA. The ICA is supported in
part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San Jose and by a
grant from Arts Council Silicon Valley, in partnership with the County
of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council.
***
The San Jose Institute
of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an energetic art space located in downtown San
Jose dedicated to making contemporary art accessible and exciting to audiences
of all ages and backgrounds. Exhibitions are presented in three galleries that
display the most current, relevant and often challenging art from the region,
the nation and the world. The ICA is activated by opening receptions, South
First Friday gallery walks, after-dark programming in the front windows, panel
discussions, printmaking workshops, brown bag lunches and impromptu
conversations in the galleries. The ICA
is a member-supported, non-profit organization. Admission to the gallery is free.
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