Title
Round
Suite Pour L'invisible by Ana Roxanne, 2023
Lil mariachi sombrero from Coyoacán, dragon skin silicone, car parts found passing a dry arroyo, rabbit pelt, a black t-shirt stained with avocado oil, sequins, shards of found plexiglass
10 x 18 x 5 inches
Estimated value: $4,000-$6,000
Courtesy of the artist and Murmurs Gallery
Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya’s sculptures are mythological beings As the third recipient of moCa’s acclaimed Toby’s Prize, Rodriguez Montoya’s solo exhibition Skinchangers: Begotten of My Flesh will open at the museum in June 2024. A work of speculative fiction, Skinchangers examines anxiety about the unfamiliar and reflects on the repetition of abuse through time. Using expanded polystyrene as a building block, Montoya will transform moCa’s Lewis Gallery into the interior of the last spaceship to leave Earth, filled with alchemical creatures made from organic and synthetic materials and the detritus of capitalism.
In support of moCa's mission, Montoya offers Suite Pour L’invisible by Ana Roxanne, a creature inspired by alebrijes, surreal beings from dream worlds that manifest in Mexican folk art, often taking the form of different animals spliced together. Made from found materials including silicone-drenched clothing, plexiglass shards, car parts, rabbit pelt, and pieces of a tiny mariachi sombrero that together evoke the spirit of a playful if dangerous alebrijes.
Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya
Suite Pour L'invisible by Ana Roxanne, 2023
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Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya
Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya (b.1989 in Parral, Mexico) is based in Mexico City. Montoya received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020. Montoya creates sculptures that are fantastic beings centered around anthologies and social issues concerning border culture, abjection, adaptation, and mestizaje. Montoya’s practice is aided by Speculative Fiction, Nahualismo, Sci-Fi, and the labor of his family. His work hybridizes and creates parallels between land, the human, and the animal as a way to investigate the process in which violence eradicates, erases, and erodes communities of color.