Dozie Kanu's World Building Tools: An Interview From The Biodiversity Issue →

 
 

text by Oliver Kupper
portraits by Parker Woods 

Dozie Kanu’s practice is a conceptual exploration of colonial and hegemonic politics, architecture, spatial narratives, and so much more. Born in Houston, Texas in 1993, and now based in Santarém, Portugal, Kanu’s investigation of cultural artifacts belies an America still grappling with not only its troubled past, but also its troubled present. Razor-sharp, anti-climb, raptor spikes, a visual and physical deterrent for vandals and undesirables, find their way onto one of his sculptures modeled as a baby crib, an emblematic nod to the countless divisions that are psychologically embedded at birth. There is something alchemical about Kanu’s reimagined objects of our urban visual landscape, like an ATM blasted with a thick layer of black epoxy sculpting clay, or a poured concrete chair in “crack rock beige” that sits on a spoked tire rim, that gives Kanu’s work a kind of authentic reclamation of power in a grief-stricken zeitgeist. We caught up with Kanu on a rare visit to Los Angeles, before the opening of his exhibition, to prop and ignore, at Manual Arts, to discuss tools for building a more socially equitable world. Read more.

House & Garden Is A World Of Domestic Bliss @ Stroll Garden In Los Angeles

Conceived as a singular installation, House & Garden welcomes viewers into a home of domestic items rendered in clay by Analuisa Corrigan and a garden of working ceramic fountains by Lily Clark, complimented by live plant vignettes created by Alice Lam of A.L. BASA. In recontextualizing the familiar, the artists invite a moment of pause to reengage our senses and reconsider our relationship to often overlooked elements of the everyday, both domestic and elemental. Corrigan creates organic, figurative forms that unite material exploration and personal expression. Corrigan’s pieces are deceptively labor intensive, taking up to a month to make. After sketching and prototyping, each is carefully built up through a coil technique, then dried and sanded to achieve the desired silhouette. The resulting work feels simultaneously robust and delicate.

Whereas Corrigan works intuitively, Clark’s process embraces precision, reflecting her interest in engineering. After drafting a design, she rolls slabs of clay and cuts using a template, then carefully joins the seams. The surface is left unglazed to contrast with the water’s luster. For her large-scale fountains, Clark incorporates stones that she spent six months sourcing from the Whitewater quarry just outside of Palm Springs, fine tuning the design to achieve her desired water flow and sound. Clark’s fountains are arranged within an “indoor garden” by Alice Lam, whose Los Angeles-based creative studio A.L. BASA specializes in sculptural floral installations. Lam’s site-specific design references Buddhist Zen gardens created around works by Isamu Noguchi, as well as plants that are representative of California’s biodiversity. Immersive and temporal, House & Garden contemplates notions of interior and exterior — both somatic and psychological, experienced and subjective.

House & Garden is on view through June 11 @ Stroll Garden 7380 Beverly Boulevard.

 
 

22 Days In Costa Rica

Take a magical, strange and exotic journey to Costa Rica, Holy Patte's first stop in their four month long journey through South America, where they spent a total of 22 days. 22 days of lush tropical landscapes, volcanoes, thorny trees, camping on the beach, smiling cows and more. Near their outpost in Huacas, which is not far from Tamarindo, they witness the nightly controlled burns that light up the night sky. People set their gardens on fire as a method of cleansing: "The rainy season here is so strong that every tree once destroyed by the fire grows back." 48 hours was also spent deep in the Northern National Parks with "white-throated monkeys, huge dramatic trees, burning sun, some shade and very little drinkable water." Another two days was spent amongst the volcanoes in Arenal where they crashed in a tent and awoke to a number of curious cows on a farm that produces fresh milk (click here to see Holy Patte's in depth tour of the fresh milk farm deep in the Costa Rican mountains). Holy Patte's second handicraft discovery was made at the studio and home of ceramicist and artist Pefi (click here to see an in-depth tour of her home and studio). Their last stop was the Osa Peninsula where they hiked and camped among the snakes, spiders and dolphins and the extreme biodiversity that exists in the area's thick jungles. Click here to see more from their journey the Osa Peninsula and learn more about their tour guide Tico who is currently photographing the last of the area's rare jaguars. Follow Holy Patte on Instagram (@HolyPatte) to stay up to date with their adventures and incredible handicrafts discoveries. Every week, Autre will be presenting highlights from their incredible journey.