NEW YORK, NY.- Paul Kasmin Gallery announces the representation of artist Bosco Sodi (b. Mexico City, 1970). The inaugural solo exhibition at the gallery is scheduled to open in Fall 2017 and will be the first to focus exclusively on Sodi’s Clay Cube sculptures.
Made at Casa Wabi, the artist’s foundation and studio in Oaxaca, Sodi’s solid clay cubes begin the gathering slabs of clay from a local hillside, which are then mixed with sand and water. Sodi then fashions this raw material by hand into large, typically 60 cm cubes, and fires them in many hours in an outdoor kiln, resulting in objects that express a timeless, imperfect geometry and bear the chance results of the process. The cubes are stacked in columns of four, producing totemic architectural forms through which views can move. Notes Noguchi Museum curator Dakin Hart, “the only thing they contain is earth; they are vessels for and of their own substance.” In advance of Sodi’s exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery, a monograph focusing on this new body of work, Bosco Sodi: Clay Cubes will published by Hatje Cantz, Germany in 2017.
Sodi is known for his dense monochrome paintings using raw pigment mixed with sawdust, wood pulp, natural fibers and glue, which he applies layer by layer to his canvases. As the works dry, the surfaces begin to crack, ceding an active role in the composition to the inherent qualities of the materials. Sodi is also recognized for his volcanic rock sculptures, sourced from solidified volcanic magma from the Ceboruco volcano in Mexico, which the artist encases in ceramic glazes and precious metals and fires at high temperatures, altering the surfaces to create elemental works that unite geological processes with traditional and contemporary art-making techniques.
Bosco Sodi has exhibited his work internationally and his works are in significant public and private collections including the JUMEX collection, Mexico; Vitra Museum, Switzerland; Deustche Bank Collection, New York, USA; IBM Building, New York, USA; Muderme, London; De la Cruz Collection, Puerto Rico, and Contemporary Art Foundation, Japan. Notable US exhibitions include Museum of Stones, The Noguchi Museum, New York (2015); Ubi Sunt, The Pace Gallery, New York (2011) and Pangea, The Bronx Museum, New York (2010). Opening November 3, 2016 Sodi will be featured in Wirikuta (Mexican Time Slip) at the Museo Espacio in Aguascalientes, Mexico curated by Nicolas Bourriaud. Sodi will have a solo show at the Museo Anahuacalli, curated by Dakin Hart, opening February 2017. And, a solo exhibition at the MUNAL museum in Mexico City will open next summer.
Sodi is the founder of Funcación Casa Wabi, an art center and residency in Oaxaca, Mexico created to promote the exchange of ideas between artists of different countries and disciplines. Designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the foundation is dedicated to developing opportunities for art education with local communities.
