Ariel René Jackson & Lina Puerta: Woven Land: New York City

July 12 - September 16, 2022

  • Ariel René Jackson and Lina Puerta: Woven Land

  • Ariel René Jackson & Lina Puerta: Woven Land is the first exhibition for both artists with Ruiz-Healy Art. Woven Land  focuses on the relationship between humans, labor, and land. Ariel René Jackson utilizes found objects, printing, painting, and fiber work to create scenes and experiences from their cultural past. Lina Puerta creates collages, handmade-paper paintings and wall hangings to examine the relationship between nature and the human-made.

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  • An Artpace International Artist in Residence, Jackson’s practice considers land and landscape as sites of internal representation. Themes of colorism,...
    Ariel René Jackson
    Maroons #2, 2022
    Mixed media on panel
    24 x 30 x 2.5 in
    60.96 x 76.2 x 6.35 cm
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    An Artpace International Artist in Residence, Jackson’s practice considers land and landscape as sites of internal representation. Themes of colorism, nationality, and inheritance are also present in their work which incorporates different mediums. The artist’s mixed media paintings utilize organic material such as soil and chalk, while their fiber work integrates quilting traditions with silk screen printing. 

  • Writer and curator Lise Ragbir writes, “Jackson spent formative time in rural Louisiana where their grandparents were Black farmers. Bearing...
    Ariel René Jackson
    Grayzonia Portraits 01, 2016
    Fabric and screenprint ink on paper
    18.5 x 14.8 in
    47 x 37.6 cm
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    Writer and curator Lise Ragbir writes, “Jackson spent formative time in rural Louisiana where their grandparents were Black farmers. Bearing witness to their toil on family land inspired a curiosity about the notion of legacy, and the ways in which stories are passed down.”

     

    - Lise Ragbir, "Ariel René Jackson on the “Detective Work” of Telling Truthful Stories," Hyperallergic, 2021.

  • 'I’m interested in the relationship between narrative and meaning in the construction of identity as it relates to land-specific sites....
    Ariel René Jackson
    Maroons #3, 2022
    Mixed media on panel
    24 x 30 x 2.5 in
    60.96 x 76.2 x 6.35 cm
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    "I’m interested in the relationship between narrative and meaning in the construction of identity as it relates to land-specific sites. Narratives that develop out of the oral and literary knowledge of marginalized communities drive me in cultivating an intergenerational dialogue. I consider the lexicon of symbols in translating and expanding epistemological relationships to a space or place."

     

    - Ariel René Jackson, "A Q&A with Ariel René Jackson," The Momentary, 2020.

  • “In recent years, Jackson has extended [their] inquiries into rural areas, researching and codifying the history of African American farming...
    Ariel René Jackson
    Black Rural Geometry, 2018
    Chocolate loam soil, white chalk, burlap, silkscreen on linen, red chalkline powder, green chalkboard paint, black chalkboard paint on panel
    18 x 24 in
    45.7 x 61 cm
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    “In recent years, Jackson has extended [their] inquiries into rural areas, researching and codifying the history of African American farming and the racist policies to which it has been subject over several generations.”

     

    - Sean J. Patrick Carney, "First Look: Ariel René Jackson," Art in America, 2019.

  • “Throughout her career, Lina has created a tapestry of works in connection with nature and the female body. She subtly...
    Lina Puerta
    Untitled (Turquoise/Tapestries Series), 2016
    Handmade Paper composed of pigmented cotton, linen and abaca pulp; embedded with lace, sequined fabrics, velvet ribbon, fake fur, feathers, appliqués, chains and found insect wings
    49 x 38 in
    124.46 x 96.52 cm
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    “Throughout her career, Lina has created a tapestry of works in connection with nature and the female body. She subtly crafts her own mixed media techniques. Her compositions radiate  exotic, mysterious energy from her Latin American heritage. The audience is drawn into an elegant critique of postcolonialism through an ecofeminist lens.”

     

    - Coco Dolle, "Cultural Rebels: Latinx artist Lina Puerta brings her soft revolution to East Harlem," Whitehot Magazine, 2022.

  • Puerta’s work engages themes of food justice, xenophobia, hyper-consumerism, and ancestral knowledge. Featured in the exhibition are Puerta’s Latinx Farmworkers...
    Lina Puerta
    Farmworker Portrait, 2018
    Handmade paper composed of pigmented cotton and linen pulp; embedded
    and finished with sequined fabric and lace.
    16 x 14 in
    40.64 x 35.56 cm
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    Puerta’s work engages themes of food justice, xenophobia, hyper-consumerism, and ancestral knowledge. Featured in the exhibition are Puerta’s Latinx Farmworkers in the US tapestry series which combines cotton and linen paper pulp with recycled fabrics and paint. Latinx Farmworkers in the US highlights the extreme physical labor and hardship demanded by exploitative industrial agricultural systems, contrasted against the poetic life cycle of the crops themselves.

  • Writer and curator Coco Dolle writes, 'Puerta's work falls into the global movement and legacy of Latin American artists and...
    Lina Puerta
    Crop Laborer- Green, 2018
    Handmade paper composed of pigmented cotton and linen paper pulp; embedded with sequined fabrics, lace and finished with gouache
    29 x 20 in
    73.7 x 50.8 cm
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    Writer and curator Coco Dolle writes, "Puerta's work falls into the global movement and legacy of Latin American artists and activists channeling their inner suffering and collective pathos or anger onto their works… At the core of these movements is a desperate yearning for freedom from European imperialism, machismo, and American big-stick diplomacy." 

     

    - Coco Dolle, "Cultural Rebels: Latinx artist Lina Puerta brings her soft revolution to East Harlem," Whitehot Magazine, 2022.

  • 'We think of nature as if it was separate from us, something we spend time with when going to the...
    Lina Puerta
    Cucumber and Garlands, 2019
    Handmade paper composed of pigmented cotton and linen pulp; embedded with lace and sequined fabrics; discarded food wrappings and nettings; finished with gouache, pom-pons, lace and velvet ribbons.
    28 x 19.5 in
    71.1 x 49.5 cm
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    "We think of nature as if it was separate from us, something we spend time with when going to the park or outside the city. But indigenous teachings remind us that we ARE nature and therefore, we are part of an ecosystem in which we play an important role within the natural world. If we learn to pay attention and develop a sense of deep respect and reciprocity with the living world around us, I believe, we can create significant changes that would bring healing to ourselves and the earth."

     

    - Lina Puerta, "Social Distancing Studio Visits," Caroline Kipp, 2021.

  • About the Artists

    Ariel René Jackson is a Black creole anti-disciplinary artist whose practice considers land and landscape as sites of internal representation. Themes of transformation are embedded in their interest and application of repurposed imagery and objects, video, sound, and performance. The artist received their MFA at the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX where they currently live and work. Their work has been shown nationally and internationally at various galleries and institutions such as Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Women & Their Work, Austin, TX; Artpace, San Antonio, TX; Digital Arts Resource Centre, Ottawa, Canada; Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX; Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WI; Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA; Depaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL; Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI among others.

  • Lina Puerta creates mixed media sculptures, installations, collages, handmade-paper paintings and wall hangings by combining a wide range of materials, from artificial plants and paper pulp to found, personal and recycled objects. The artist was born in New Jersey, raised in Colombia, and lives and works in New York City. Puerta holds an MS in Art Education from The City University of New York and has exhibited nationally and internationally. She has been honored with numerous awards such as the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Crafts/Sculpture, New York, NY; Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans, LA; Dieu Donné Workspace Residency, New York, NY; Kohler Arts Industry Residency, Sheboygan, WI among others.