Guadalupe Maravilla
Guadalupe Maravilla
I canceled my performance Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
43 x 21 1/4 x 4 1/4 ins.
109.2 x 54 x 10.8 cm
P·P·O·W is pleased to present Guadalupe Maravilla’s Seven Ancestral Stomachs, the artist’s first solo presentation with the gallery. Combining sculpture, painting, performative acts, and installation, Maravilla grounds his transdisciplinary practice in activism and healing. For Maravilla, his own life story is his primary material.
Maravilla was part of the first wave of unaccompanied, undocumented children to arrive at the United States border in the 1980s as a result of the Salvadoran Civil War. While Maravilla emigrated at the age of eight, he became a U.S. citizen at the age of 26. Yet it was not until his recovery from colon cancer in 2013 that he felt the urgency to speak out about the struggles so many undocumented immigrants and their families face. By tracing his migration history and healing journey, Maravilla explores how the trauma undocumented immigrants experience physically manifests in the body. Reflecting upon his own battle with cancer, which began in his gut, as well as that of members of his family, Maravilla examines how genetic trauma manifests in the body over generations. Throughout the many teachings Maravilla experienced in his healing process, one notion kept returning – if one cleanses properly, they will heal seven generations back and seven generations forward.
Guadalupe Maravilla
Disease Thrower #10, 2020
gong, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, and objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route
96 x 57 x 63 ins.
243.8 x 144.8 x 160 cm
Discovering sound therapy during his cancer radiation treatment, Maravilla has since developed a series of vertical, large-scale, free-standing sculptures, titled Disease Throwers. Functioning as headdresses, instruments, and shrines, the towering sculptures serve as symbols of renewal, generating vibrational sound from gongs. Described by Maravilla as “healing machines”, the structures incorporate materials collected from sites across Central America, such as anatomical models, toys, sacred objects, and sonic instruments including conch shells and flutes.
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 5, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
19 1/2 x 37 x 8 1/2 ins.
49.5 x 94 x 21.6 cm
In addition to Disease Throwers, Maravilla will unveil a new series of wall sculptures. The exhibition’s eponymous seven twisting gourds with extending talons embody the seven stomachs of the artist’s ancestors. Surrounding the walls of the Seven Ancestral Stomachs is Maravilla’s reinterpretation of the popular Salvadorian children’s game, Tripa Chuca or “Dirty Guts,” in which two players take turns drawing lines that never intersect. Over the course of Maravilla’s more than two-month journey to the U.S., Tripa Chuca became a survival tool. For Seven Ancestral Stomachs, Maravilla has invited an undocumented person to collaborate with him on the Tripa Chuca mural in order to create a mapping between two displaced people on the walls of the gallery.
Guadalupe Maravilla
I am sending love to my eight year old self Retablo, 2021 (detail)
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
44 x 21 x 4 ins.
111.8 x 53.3 x 10.2 cm
Furthering this investigation of various curative approaches, Maravilla will also present a series of retablos chronicling his healing journey. Originating in Medieval Spain, retablos are small devotional paintings, traditionally used in Mexican and Central American cultures to honor and celebrate the miracles of everyday life. Sending detailed digital sketches to a four-generation retablo painter he met in Mexico while retracing his migration route, Maravilla’s personalization of these votive offerings exemplifies his dedication to supporting a micro-economy through his artistic practice. Rather than making these paintings himself, Maravilla’s choice to collaborate expands the cross-cultural exchange of his practice and helps preserve the tradition of retablo painting in Mexico.
Guadalupe Maravilla (b. 1976) currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, and his MFA from Hunter College in New York. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Additionally, he has performed and presented his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida; Queens Museum, New York; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; El Museo del Barrio, New York; Museum of Art of El Salvador, San Salvador; X Central American Biennial, Costa Rica; Performa 11, New York; Performa 13, New York;, Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York; the Drawing Center, New York; SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, Texas; and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri, among others.
Maravilla has received numerous awards and fellowships including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, 2019; Soros Fellowship: Art Migration and Public Space, 2019; MAP Fund Grant, 2019; Franklin Furnace Fund, 2018; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship, 2018; Art Matters Fellowship, 2017; Creative Capital Grant, 2016; Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist Grant, 2016; The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Award 2003, among others. He has also completed residencies with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York; SOMA, Mexico City; Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Maine; and the Drawing Center, New York.
Guadalupe Maravilla
Disease Thrower #3, 2019
gong, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, and objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route
96 x 57 x 63 ins.
243.8 x 144.8 x 160 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Disease Thrower #7, 2019
gong, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, and objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route
144 x 56 x 63 ins.
365.8 x 142.2 x 160 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Disease Thrower #6, 2019
gong, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, and objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route
144 x 56 x 63 ins.
365.8 x 142.2 x 160 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Disease Thrower #8, 2019
gong, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, and objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route
144 x 56 x 63 ins.
365.8 x 142.2 x 160 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Disease Thrower #9, 2019
gong, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, and objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route
144 x 56 x 63 ins.
365.8 x 142.2 x 160 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Disease Thrower #10, 2020
gong, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, and objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route
96 x 57 x 63 ins.
243.8 x 144.8 x 160 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 7, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
28 x 18 x 11 3/4 ins.
71.1 x 45.7 x 29.8 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 1, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
28 x 16 x 6 ins.
71.1 x 40.6 x 15.2 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 4, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
30 x 18 x 13 ins.
76.2 x 45.7 x 33 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 6, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
27 x 25 x 11 ins.
68.6 x 63.5 x 27.9 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 3, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
38 x 20 x 12 3/4 ins.
96.5 x 50.8 x 32.4 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
I want to thank the cucumbers Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
46 x 22 1/2 x 6 ins.
116.8 x 57.1 x 15.2 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 5, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
19 1/2 x 37 x 8 1/2 ins.
49.5 x 94 x 21.6 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Ancestral Stomach 2, 2021
dried gourd with mixed media
26 x 24 3/4 x 13 ins.
66 x 62.9 x 33 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
I canceled my performance Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
43 x 21 1/4 x 4 1/4 ins.
109.2 x 54 x 10.8 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
I was born on December 12th Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
44 x 26 x 5 ins.
111.8 x 66 x 12.7 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
During the first wave of COVID-19 Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
45 x 30 x 6 ins.
114.3 x 76.2 x 15.2 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
I am sending love to my eight year old self Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
44 x 21 x 4 ins.
111.8 x 53.3 x 10.2 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Thank you Pixelated Goat Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
46 x 20 1/2 x 5 1/2 ins.
116.8 x 52.1 x 14 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
Aristoteles’ story about being detained by ICE Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
45 1/2 x 19 3/4 x 4 1/4 ins.
115.6 x 50.2 x 10.8 cm
Guadalupe Maravilla
EXVOTO Kambo Retablo, 2021
oil on tin, cotton, glue mixture, wood
31 x 31 x 3 1/2 ins.
78.7 x 78.7 x 8.9 cm
In memory of Stephanie, and in honor of Alejandro.
Plus, check out the latest edition of our Artnet Talks and see works by Brazilian artist Amelia Toledo.
As 2021 comes to a close, we’re taking the time to look back on the shows in the U.S. and around the world that we feel had the greatest impact. Like the year before, this year was again marked by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But it had many more bright spots. Thanks to the vaccine, we saw the return of in-person shows, fairs, biennales, and events. Artists took the tumultuous times head-on, continuing to make work, sometimes addressing it directly, sometimes not. Curators took on subjects that ranged from themes like grief, connection, and even clay. There was joy, sadness, a celebration of humanity. Whether looking to the past, present, or future, we found ourselves once again communing with art, artists, and the thing that moves us most of all, beauty.
As the city reopened, the art world saw legacy-changing donations for the Met and the Brooklyn Museum, and a seismic shift in Tribeca’s gallery scene.
Healing, and self-care in general, is a major industry right now — at the beginning of 2021, the self care industry was valued at $450 billion. But Guadalupe Maravilla doesn’t believe that healing comes from downloading an app or paying a shaman $1,000 to cleanse your energy. Instead, he says, real healing comes from being kind to others, helping those in need and giving back to the community — not just once in a while, but every day. Healing, for Maravilla personally, expresses itself in art.
Fleeing civil war in his native El Salvador, Maravilla arrived in the U.S., in 1984, as an unaccompanied eight-year-old. Some thirty years later, the Brooklyn-based artist was diagnosed with and survived colon cancer. He channels both of these experiences in his impressive début at the P.P.O.W. gallery’s handsome new space, in Tribeca.
Good vibrations: the artist offers up his assemblages and sound baths.
Shinichi Sawada’s ceramic creatures; Sophie Larrimore and Jerry the Marble Faun’s two-person show; and Guadalupe Maravilla’s devotional paintings.
Your list of must-see, fun, insightful, and very New York art events this month.
Maravilla was part of the first wave of unaccompanied, undocumented children to arrive at the United States border in the 1980s as a result of the Salvadoran Civil War. While Maravilla emigrated at the age of eight, he became a U.S. citizen at the age of 26. Yet it was not until his recovery from colon cancer in 2013 that he felt the urgency to speak out about the struggles so many undocumented immigrants and their families face.
