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The Armory Show

Past exhibition
September 8 - 10, 2023 New York City
  • Overview
  • Works
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  • Press
Overview
Consuelo Jimenez Underwood at The Armory Show 2023 Photo Courtesy of Daniel Terna
Consuelo Jimenez Underwood at The Armory Show 2023 Photo Courtesy of Daniel Terna

Ruiz-Healy Art is pleased to present Consuelo Jimenez Underwood's work at the 2023 Armory Show, Focus Section, curated by Candice Hopkins. Jimenez Underwood has been exhibiting her work since the 1980s, choosing to focus on the fiber arts at a time when weaving was considered “craft,” not “art.” As the daughter of a Huichol-descended father who weaved and a Mexican-American mother who embroidered, it has always been important to the artist to continue these ancestral practices and insist on their legitimacy in the artistic sphere. Her initial goal as an artist was to become a “footnote in history,” but in recent years she has far surpassed her ambition. In 2022, Duke University Press published an anthology on her decades-long career, titled Consuelo Jimenez Underwood: Art, Weaving, Vision, and she was awarded the Latinx Artist Fellowship the same year. 

The works presented span from the early 2000s to the summer of 2023 and showcase Jimenez Underwood’s technical skills in weaving and mixed media. She is well-known for her innovative use of barbed wire, safety pins, yellow caution tape, and caution signs, which reflect perhaps the most central theme in her work: the U.S.-Mexico border. Growing up along the Calexico, CA–Mexicali, MX border, the artist moved back and forth between family homes on either side of the frontera, and on more than one occasion was separated from her father–who was undocumented in the U.S.–when he was deported. The beauty of her work is a conscious strategy to discuss difficult border topics such as violence, the separation of families, and environmental destruction, but border subjects are not monolithic in her work. Stories of survival and growth along the border carry equal importance and cause for reflection.

 

While Jimenez Underwood’s artworks are technically tight and aesthetically beautiful, their content is just as important. Every stitch is guided by lifelong reflections on a range of complex subjects. The artist states: “My work is a reflection of personal border experiences: the interconnectedness of societies, insisting on beauty in struggle, and celebrating the notion of ‘seeing’ this world through my tri-cultural lens.  Engaging materials, which reflect a contemporary hyper-modern sensitivity, are interwoven to create large-scale fiber art that is inspired in equal measures by land, politics and Spirit.”

 

Indeed, After visiting the Yaqui pueblos in Sonora, Mexico, Jimenez Underwood was struck by the tenacity and strength of their indigenous culture. Though the culture continued to survive, it had come at the cost of unnecessary death which left its mark on the community, leaving it in a state of instability. A denial of Indigenous rights, though state political suppression, is at the heart of the artist's practice.

 
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Works
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Sunset Rebozo, 2004 Silkscreen on dyed fabric, safety pins, glass beads and barbed wire 75 x 18 in 190.5 x 45.7 cm
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    Sunset Rebozo, 2004
    Silkscreen on dyed fabric, safety pins, glass beads and barbed wire
    75 x 18 in
    190.5 x 45.7 cm
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood American Foods: Corn, Bean, Squash, 2019 Woven, pinned. Cotton fabric, natural and synthetic fibers, leather barbed wire, safety pins, buttons, and glass beads 19 x 45 in each, 63 x 45 in total 48.3 x 114.3 cm each, 160 x 114.3 cm in total
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    American Foods: Corn, Bean, Squash, 2019
    Woven, pinned. Cotton fabric, natural and synthetic fibers, leather barbed wire, safety pins, buttons, and glass beads
    19 x 45 in each, 63 x 45 in total
    48.3 x 114.3 cm each, 160 x 114.3 cm in total
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Resistencia Yaqui, 1992 Loom woven in three panels. Painted, mixed media. Linen, cotton, synthetic threads. Paper, textile paint, leather barbed wire 72 x 46 in 182.9 x 116.8 cm
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    Resistencia Yaqui, 1992
    Loom woven in three panels. Painted, mixed media. Linen, cotton, synthetic threads. Paper, textile paint, leather barbed wire
    72 x 46 in
    182.9 x 116.8 cm
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Quatlique, Can You See Matchuk?, 2023 Sewn, painted, embroidered, pinned. Cotton flag, oilcloth, paint, paper, safety pins, fabric, cotton and synthetic threads 111 x 64 in 281.9 x 162.6 cm
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    Quatlique, Can You See Matchuk?, 2023
    Sewn, painted, embroidered, pinned. Cotton flag, oilcloth, paint, paper, safety pins, fabric, cotton and synthetic threads
    111 x 64 in
    281.9 x 162.6 cm
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Manahatta Rain Song (wall installation), 2023 Acrylic paint, pastel, colored aluminum wire, leather barbed wire, nails 12 x 12 feet
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    Manahatta Rain Song (wall installation), 2023
    Acrylic paint, pastel, colored aluminum wire, leather barbed wire, nails
    12 x 12 feet
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Tree Sighting, Zapata, 2023 Woven, stitched, mixed media. Linen, cotton, metallic threads. Fabric, leather barbed wire, safety pins 39 x 12 in 99.1 x 30.5 cm
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    Tree Sighting, Zapata, 2023
    Woven, stitched, mixed media. Linen, cotton, metallic threads. Fabric, leather barbed wire, safety pins
    39 x 12 in
    99.1 x 30.5 cm
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood VDG Rebozo Detail, 2023 Woven, painted, stitched. Linen, cotton, synthetic threads, copper wire, CAUTION tape, leather barbed wire, silk fabric 67 x 29 in 170.2 x 73.7 cm
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    VDG Rebozo Detail, 2023
    Woven, painted, stitched. Linen, cotton, synthetic threads, copper wire, CAUTION tape, leather barbed wire, silk fabric
    67 x 29 in
    170.2 x 73.7 cm
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Tortillas del Norte, 2005 Painted oilcloth with acrylic paint and safety pins on cotton canvas 79 x 56 in 200.7 x 142.2 cm
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    Tortillas del Norte, 2005
    Painted oilcloth with acrylic paint and safety pins on cotton canvas
    79 x 56 in
    200.7 x 142.2 cm
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Mendocino Rebozo, 2004 Silkscreen on dyed fabric, safety pins, glass beads and barbed wire 68 x 17 in 172.7 x 43.2 cm
    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
    Mendocino Rebozo, 2004
    Silkscreen on dyed fabric, safety pins, glass beads and barbed wire
    68 x 17 in
    172.7 x 43.2 cm
Installation Views
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4664
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4648
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4642
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4654
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4673
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4636
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4663
  • Ruiz Healy Armory 20230906 O0A4657 Edit
Press
  • Work by American artist Consuelo Jiménez Underwood on display at Ruiz-Healy Art's stand at The Armory Show in New York City, 2023. Courtesy of Daniel Terna

    The Year in Latinx Art: Icons Receive Their Due as Mid-Career and Emerging Artists Get Spotlights

    Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews, December 29, 2023
    This link opens in a new tab.
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Installation View at the Armory Show 2023

    SPECIAL NEW YORK EDITION: Independent 20th Century and Photofairs Open, Korean Art at the Guggenheim, and more

    Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews, September 9, 2023
    This link opens in a new tab.
  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Installation View at the Armory Show 2023

    The Armory Show is ‘business as usual’ at first edition since Frieze acquisition

    Carlie Porterfield, The Art Newspaper, September 8, 2023
    This link opens in a new tab.

Related artist

  • Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

    Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

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Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio

Open Wednesday - Saturday from 11AM to 4PM and by appointment | 210.804.2219

201-A East Olmos Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78212 

 

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Open Wednesday - Friday from 11AM to 5PM and by appointment | 646.833.7709

74 East 79th Street, 2D, New York, New York 10075

  

 

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