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Sean Kelly is delighted to present VENAS DEL CAPULLO, the highly anticipated, inaugural exhibition by Donna Huanca at Sean Kelly, New York. This multi-sensory exhibition expands upon Huanca’s continuing exploration of themes including the body, the cycles of life, and the chaos of the natural world. This site-specific installation, in which the gallery space is enveloped in a recyclable membrane, includes large-scale paintings on canvas and sculptures in stainless steel and mixed media, as well as sound and scent.

Donna Huanca - VENAS DEL CAPULLO - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

Huanca’s sinuous, abstract paintings extend the life cycle of her performances by merging the transience of performance art with the permanence of painting. The surfaces of her paintings are built upon images of bodies photographed during these performances, printed onto canvas and overpainted. Camouflaged by oil paint of vibrantly colored hues and tantalizing textural dimension, Huanca’s hallucinatory kaleidoscopes are distinguished by the intermixing of oil pigments with sand and other natural materials.

"I was thinking of the experimental beginnings of the gallery in Soho and how it played a part in experimental performance art. I wanted to recreate my studio as a lab, as a place for experimentation." - Donna Huanca

Each of Huanca’s installations is a new and experimental environment, drawing on previous bodies of work, but responsive to its specific context and site. With the exhibition’s title, VENAS DEL CAPULLO, Huanca references a state of both waiting and construction inherent to the creative process. She states, “With the installation and title, I wanted to respond to the art gallery being a place of commercial transaction and transform this space into a lab: a place that honors the creative process rather than the finished product.”

Donna Huanca - VENAS DEL CAPULLO - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

For this exhibition, Huanca envelops the walls of the gallery with a translucent, biodegradable membrane, which she likens to a “womb space that functions like a petri dish in which primal sensory signals proliferate.” The gallery is punctuated throughout with large-scale paintings and various sculptures. Each of them unites natural and synthetic materials and carries traces of the human body that reflect the interactive nature of her performances.

"Plastic is now inextricably part of our lives; it has infiltrated everywhere—nature, the air we breathe, and even our bodies. Merging artificial and natural elements is a way for me to reflect on these mutations and their consequences." - Donna Huanca

Donna Huanca - VENAS DEL CAPULLO - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

Donna Huanca (b. Chicago, 1980) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores the human body and the natural world through mark-making, raw materials, immersive environments, and singular structures. Encompassing painting, sculpture, and live performance, Huanca’s installations are characteristically created for, and integrated with, the architectural spaces in which they are presented.

Her art is deeply invested in communal practice, exploring ritual at large as a means for transcendence, meditation, and transformation. Since 2012, Huanca has collaborated with performers, inviting them to improvise and interact with her surrounding sculptures and installations as their painted skin becomes a major element in the composition.

"The skin is a fascinating organ that contains and protects us while serving as a vessel through which we experience and engage with the physical world. Additionally, it’s a living surface, constantly changing, bearing witness to our lives, almost like a diary." - Donna Huanca

Donna Huanca - VENAS DEL CAPULLO - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

Installed throughout the main gallery, the exhibition also features chrome and metal sculptures, ranging from highly reflective pierced mirror silhouettes to totemic aluminum castings alluding to the constant metamorphosis of the human body. The organic shapes, contours, and impressions of these sculptural works take on an anthropomorphic quality, both welcoming visitors into the space and standing as totems for those absent. Embracing her Bolivian heritage rooted in Indigenous rituals, Huanca adorns her sculptures with ornamental piercings and braids, the latter referencing the quipu, a knot-based record-keeping device of the ancient Incan civilization’s system of communication, bringing traditional practices into a contemporary framework.

"The jewelry in my sculptures, are both ornaments and signifiers; they say something about our history, our identity, and our personality. Ornamentation as an ancestral means of communication and self-expression."

- Donna Huanca

 

Concurrent with her inaugural exhibition at Sean Kelly, Huanca is the subject of a major exhibition, titled SCAR TISSUE (BLURRED EARTH), at the Faurschou Foundation, Brooklyn, New York, October 21, 2023–July 14, 2024.

Donna Huanca - VENAS DEL CAPULLO - 展覽 - Sean Kelly Gallery

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Huanca attended The University of Houston before studying at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and Städelschule, Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Germany. Prominent institutions that have hosted solo exhibitions include: Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico; Space K Seoul, Korea; Marfa Ballroom, Texas; Arnolfini, Bristol; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Belvedere Museum, Vienna; Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark; Yuz Museum, Shanghai, among others. Her work has been exhibited at prominent institutions: Museum of Modern Art PS1, NY; Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao, ES; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami, FL; Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome, IT; Shiomonoseki Art Museum, Yamaguchi, JP; Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, FI, among others.

For media inquiries, please email Brandon Tho Harris at Brandon@skny.com

For all other inquiries, please email Janine Cirincione at Janine@skny.com

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Installation view of Donna Huaca: VENAS DEL CAPULLO at Sean Kelly, New York, November 9 – December 23, 2023, Photography: Adam Reich, Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles

Donna Huanca, PMA DIARY, 2023

Donna Huanca

PMA DIARY, 2023

cast aluminum, pigment, lacquer

sculpture: 46 7/16 x 24 13/16 x 27 15/16 inches (118 x 63 x 71 cm)
with plinth: approx. 66 7/16 x 25 x 27 15/16 inches (168.8 x 63.5 x 71 cm)

(DHu-18609)

Donna Huanca, RHOPALOCERA CRYSTALIS, 2023

Donna Huanca

RHOPALOCERA CRYSTALIS, 2023

stainless steel

79 1/8 x 77 3/16 x 11 13/16 inches (201 x 196 x 30 cm)

(DHu-18610)

Donna Huanca, ORBITAL HYBRIDS, 2023

Donna Huanca

ORBITAL HYBRIDS, 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

100 3/8 x 68 1/8 inches (255 x 173 cm)

(DHu-18646)

Donna Huanca, MASCARA DE DIABLADA (CRIB), 2023

Donna Huanca

MASCARA DE DIABLADA (CRIB), 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

100 3/8 x 68 1/8 inches (255 x 173 cm)

(DHu-18647)

Donna Huanca, UV DNA, 2023

Donna Huanca

UV DNA, 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

94 1/2 x 78 3/4 inches (240 x 200 cm)

(DHu-18648)

Donna Huanca, DEIMATIC BEHAVIOUR (GANG MEETING), 2023

Donna Huanca

DEIMATIC BEHAVIOUR (GANG MEETING), 2023

stainless steel in three parts

part one: 77 3/16 x 33 7/16 x 23 5/8 inches (196 x 85 x 60 cm)
part two: 79 1/8 x 30 11/16 x 19 11/16 inches (201 x 78 x 50 cm)
part three: 71 1/4 x 31 1/2 x 19 11/16 inches (181 x 80 x 50 cm)

(DHu-18649.ABC)

Donna Huanca, ECDYSONE ROSA, 2023

Donna Huanca

ECDYSONE ROSA, 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

70 7/8 x 52 inches (180 x 132 cm)

(DHu-18651)

Donna Huanca, APHAKIA FUR, 2023

Donna Huanca

APHAKIA FUR, 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

70 7/8 x 52 inches (180 x 132 cm)

(DHu-18654)

Donna Huanca, LEPIDOPTERA MAP, 2023

Donna Huanca

LEPIDOPTERA MAP, 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

129 15/16 x 90 9/16 inches (330 x 230 cm)

(DHu-18656)

Donna Huanca, AURELIA BLUR, 2023

Donna Huanca

AURELIA BLUR, 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

70 7/8 x 52 inches (180 x 132 cm)

(DHu-18657)

Donna Huanca, MELTING POMPADOUR, 2023

Donna Huanca

MELTING POMPADOUR, 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

100 3/8 x 68 1/8 inches (255 x 173 cm)

(DHu-18658)

Donna Huanca, POLYMORPHIC MAPA (RAIN), 2023

Donna Huanca

POLYMORPHIC MAPA (RAIN), 2023

oil, sand on digital print on canvas

100 3/8 x 68 1/8 inches (255 x 173 cm)

(DHu-18659)