feature friday IV - monica canilao

I am really excited about this week's artist feature, as the every piece of work and exhibition by Monica Canilao has proceeded to just blow. me. away. What I love about her is her connection to her cultural heritage and people, and her skilful translation of this knowledge into various visual mediums. Her installations in galleries and public spaces have delighted audiences worldwide, and at a 2008 show Swoon she even built a small wooden house inside a gallery. The images above are from her first ever NY show in 2010, 'We Are Dust' held at Cinders Gallery and of her amazing home and studio. But instead of me go on and on about her, have a read of her artist statement, as she describes herself and practice.

"The only constant in my life has been that I've always wanted to be creating, building, drawing, altering. My art practice is a way to generate a personal and living history. My community and collaborators, my roots and their nearly lost traditions, my neighborhood and its trash piles are all integral, necessary parts of my life and art. The way I go through the world, the beauty of people’s effort throughout time, and their subsequent decay end up in my pieces. I look as much to the loving meticulousness of handicrafts as to the techniques of high art. Taking something as ordinary as wood pulp or cloth and passing thread through it can make common things beautiful and useful. "
..read more on her website.