Anika Todd: How to hold

March 30 - May 04,2024

From Cluley Projects: "CLULEY PROJECTS is pleased to announce How to hold, an exhibition of work by St. Louis-based artist, Anika Todd in partnership with, and curated by, Sweet Pass Sculpture Park. How to hold will be accompanied by the concurrent installation of Dark Study, a sculptural work modeled off the first electric streetlights, known as “Moon Towers,” at Sweet Pass Sculpture Park — both projects further the artist’s incisive exploration of surveillance apparatuses, ecopolitics, and technology. How to hold features a series of two site-specific sculptures, process drawings, and photographs taken from the border region of West Texas. In a terse, industrial style, Todd visualizes the failures of Western models for control — whether made for the purpose of claiming the natural environment or the populace, these models are scrutinized through Todd’s artistic vision. In her work, Todd examines the underlying structures of architecture and technology: she deconstructs their hidden plans and recontextualizes them in an artistic environment, changing the way they are seen and audience who sees them. The artist’s How to hold series looks specifically at technologies in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border — Her work, How to hold the border (2023) references a surveillance blimp from the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) program stationed along the southern Texas border. Todd’s miniaturized version of the TARS blimp unmasks operations by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection department. Devised to leak air slowly, How to hold the border relies on a long cord, spanning the length of the gallery, to stay afloat — stuck in the futile loop of spilling and filling with air, this work’s lifecycle emblematizes the absurd concept of a political state’s claim to resources and exclusion of human beings. Todd’s practice joins the critical thread of contemporary art dedicated to exposing the tools and procedures of the modern nation-state — her work uproots state-owned tools from their contexts in situ. In How to hold the river (2023), Todd combines government blueprints of the Amistad Dam, situated astride Texas and Mexico, with topological maps of the Southern Texas landscape to show the discrepancy between man-made boundaries and those inherent to the natural environment itself. How to hold the sun (2023), sets out on the impossible task of containing the sun — on the floor, a “deflated” glass balloon refracts light across the gallery turning its failure to hold into a spectacle. In these works, Todd forces architectures made to enclose, section, and control natural resources play their hand, revealing their ecological and social repercussions. At Cluley Projects, How to hold showcases Anika Todd’s method of analyzing and critiquing state-owned structures. Featuring sculpture and drawing, her newest exhibition asks pertinent questions of proprietary claims to natural resources and the ethical ramifications of unimpeded surveillance. Alongside her presentation at Sweet Pass Sculpture Park, Todd focuses her penetrating eye towards the history of ecology, politics, and technology in Texas and their continuing influence in contemporary life. How to hold will be Anika Todd’s first solo presentation with Cluley Projects. Anika Todd (b. 1992, Boston MA) earned her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) and her MFA from The University of Texas at Austin. Todd teaches sculpture as the Louis D. Beaumont Artist-in-Residence for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Todd’s work has been shown nationally including solo and group exhibitions at Flux Factory, New York, NY; Lydian Stater, New York, NY; Stove works Arts Center, Chattanooga, TN; VisArts Center, Richmond, VA and Co-Lab Gallery, Austin, TX. She has held residences at Stove Works Art Center (2021), NARS Foundation (2020), and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2019). 150 MANUFACTURING STREET, SUITE 210 DALLAS, TEXAS 75207 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + 214 760 1155 ERINCLULEY.COM In 2022, Todd was a finalist for the NYFA Architecture/Environmental Structures Design Award and in 2019 she received the Austin Cultural Art Council Award. Her work has been featured in publications including the Washington Post and Glasstire. Todd currently lives and works in St. Louis, MO. Erin Cluley Gallery is a contemporary art gallery representing emerging, mid-career, and established artists from Dallas and the United States. The gallery presents a provocative program of artists working in both traditional and alternative forms including painting, sculpture, new media, photography, sculptural installation, and public intervention. In 2014, Erin Cluley Gallery ignited a creative movement in West Dallas acting as a hub for visual arts and community engagement. After nearly five years on Fabrication Street, the gallery has moved its operation to Riverbend – a development in Dallas’ Design District celebrating the intersection between culture and commerce. In April 2021, Cluley opened Cluley Projects – a satellite location in West Dallas acting as an incubator space focusing on regional artists and providing a platform for discovery and mentorship. Sweet Pass Sculpture Park is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization providing space and support for experimental and large-scale outdoor works by diverse contemporary voices. Founded in 2018 by Tamara Johnson and Trey Burns as an extension of their art practices, they envision this project as a permanent space for temporary projects. Geographically located in a one-acre lot in west Dallas, Sweet Pass exists in the gaps between ideas of gardens, green spaces, and public spaces while supporting contemporary art dedicated to site, experimentation, and community engagement."

Reception: April 27, 2024 | 5-7 pm

Cluley Projects 2123 Sylvan Avenue, Dallas TX 75208
Dallas, Texas 75208
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