Gala Porras-Kim Rio Viejo Monument 8, illuminated text

Gala Porras-Kim
b. 1984
Rio Viejo Monument 8, illuminated text

Executed in 2022.
acrylic paint and reflective glass beads on paper, mahogany frame
60 by 48 by 2 in. (152.4 by 122 by 5.08 cm.)

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Condition Report:
Please contact bid@aspenartmuseum.org for condition report.

Catalogue Note:
Rio Viejo Monument 8, illuminated text is a continuation of a body of work, first exhibited at the 2019 Whitney Biennial, in which Gala Porras-Kim recreates undeciphered mesoamerican stone engravings found on stelae in present-day Oaxaca, illuminating the markings with reflective glass beads to propose different ways of seeing, and thus interpreting. As the viewer looks upon the piece from various angles, it reads in myriad ways, suggesting that perhaps the engravings remain undeciphered because we are not looking at them correctly. This body of work constitutes quasi-tools, inviting us to reorient the way we try to understand ancient text as Porras-Kim often invites us to reorient the way we care for ancient objects. Grounded in specific archaeological points of reference, her works consider the creation, acquisition, conservation, study, display, description, and circulation of art and cultural artifacts.

Gala Porras-Kim (b. 1984, Bogotá, Colombia; lives and works in Los Angeles) received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2009 and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions and projects have been held at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (2022); Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2022); Gasworks, London, UK (2022); Amant, Brooklyn, NY (2022); Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2021, 2017); and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2019). Selected group exhibitions have been held at KADIST, San Francisco (2022); 34th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2021); 13th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2021); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2021, 2017); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2021, 2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2019, 2016); PinchukArtCentre, Kiev (2019); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019, 2017); Para Site, Hong Kong (2019); and Seoul Museum of Art (2017). Porras-Kim is the recipient of the Art Matters Foundation Award (2019), Artadia Los Angeles Award (2017), Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant (2016), Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2015), and Creative Capital Grant (2015). Porras-Kim has been in residency at Delfina Foundation (2021), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (2020), La Tallera, Proyecto Siqueiros (2019), and the Getty Research Institute (2020-2022).

Provenance:
Kindly donated by the artist and Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles