"FEMO, Queer L.A."

presented by Wallspace and curated by Ruben Esparza

Performance and Art Installations

at Wallspace June 6th - June 27th

Artist Reception Saturday June 6th 7pm-12am

Wallspace LA 607 N La Brea Los Angeles Ca 90036

CURATORIAL STATEMENT:

FEMO is an extension of Queer Biennial I, which took place in Los Angeles, and Miami in 2014. That exhibition included work from LGBTQ artists from all over the Country. The focus of FEMO is an effort to understand the workings of queer-identified artists in Los Angeles, today. Specifically, those who use performance and installation as an integral part of their art. Their common thread is a keen awareness of the body in all its states of being and transformation.

This creative FEMO group explores a contemporary sense of polysexual existential questioning of the here and now. Works include fiber art, photography, sculpture, video and live performance. As curator, it is my hope that I can help these artists sharpen the focus of their vision, and facilitate, champion and document their efforts.
The title FEMO® came about as a word exercise. I asked each artist to provide sixteen terms that describe their art or their current state of being. I chose the most prevalent responses to create an acronym: FEMO® which stands for: Fiber, Enthralling, Meditation, and Overcoming.

Los Angeles - Wallspace is pleased to announce their exhibition of FEMO, which opens June 6 and runs through June 27,2015. The show includes a quintuplet of artists: Ben Cuevas, Ruben Esparza, Jeffrey Hutchison, Amy Von Harrington, and Daphne Von Rey who are all exploring their shared state of queerness as an homage to the gay pride month, of June. According to Ruben Esparza, the exhibition’s curator, “Everyone in this show uses their bodies in some form, to probe the diversity of their imaginations. These are brave, self-reflective artists who have mixed both the melancholia and wonderment in their lives; to lift us into a new age of sensuality and beauty.

BEN CUEVAS Photo by Jeremy Lucido

Ben Cuevas, who calls fiber his fulcrum, will present a video installation. This artist incorporates sculpture, fiber, photography, video, and performance into his pieces. His work “examines what it means to have a body, to inhabit a body, to be a body incarnated in, and interacting with this world.” Cuevas is showing a new genre of work called, Tweetables. “As the world becomes increasingly digitized and connected through social media, I find myself asking how can I make work that reflects this change?” Selected solo and group exhibitions include: Art Basel, Hong Kong, Knit Culture Studio, Los Angeles, and the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY

RUBEN ESPARZA, Self Portrait

Ruben Esparza evaluates complexities by his Warholian world view and mixing it with elements of Fetish Finish, Conceptualism, Ethnicity and Queer Culture. “My work can be bloodlessly political, sexually charged, subversive, deviant, or filled with irony and humor. “ At FEMO, the artist- curator will be exhibiting an installation of fifty photographs and related ephemera, documenting his studio visits in New York and Los Angeles, from 2011-2014, during the planning and curation of Queer Biennial I, at Coagula Curatorial. Esparza’s work is included as part of the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and The National Museum of Art in Chicago.

JEFFREY HUTCHISON, Self Portrait in front of Fabric art

Jeffrey Hutchison’s latest pieces have been in dance and textile. Min Tanaka movement and transformation are fundamental to all of Hutchinson’s work, who studied dance at Brown University. This artist seeks crucial moments of kinetic intersections. “I’m working on four large textile based pieces for FEMO to be mounted on a wall or between ceiling and floor and I am planning a presentation that that involves folding and unfolding them. Hutchinson’s performances in New York and Los Angeles include: Gowanus Canal, Eastern Block, Columbia University and Antebellum in Hollywood.

Human Vagina Scissor Peace by Amy Von Harrington

Amy Von Harrington’s is a synergetic implosion of daily collage practices, karaoke statements, and video expressions. Her work explores the directionality of genital embodiment into gendered/sexed categories of determined validation. For FEMO Von Harrington will construct a giant sculptural installation entitled: Human Vagina Scissor Peace. “This installation wants to be a cool drink of water appearing in the desert of the daily grind. The artist asks, “How do we know what is... until we know what it is not?”

Photo by Dustin Cunningham

DAPHNE VON REY,

Von Rey is a twenty-two year-old, performance artist, undergoing a male to female sexual transition.” I always felt so disconnected with the world around me. Only through performance and body modification, can I convey my thoughts and emotions with utmost clarity.” During FEMO the artist will be performing a body- centric modification performance piece. She will also show photographs and short film pieces about her transition. For the past two years, Von Rey has been performing at Los Angeles venues like the Eagle, the Tom of Finland Foundation, Trannyshack, and at events for the Boulet Brothers.

A happening space of wild creativity, Wallspace is located at 607 N. La Brea Avenue. (Melrose Avenue and Clinton Street). Both opening and closing nights will have receptions from 7pm to 12 am. Admission is free. Refreshments will be served.

For Press Inquiries and High Rez images contact Ruben Esparza 323.333.5449 ruben@rubenesparza.com

Please RSVP to art@wallspacela.com