Cara Rae Joven: Notes on Bells
February 25 - April 09,2023
From Co-Opt Research and Projects: "Bells is a group of sculptures that embraces its environment and the world it was made in. There are nine sculptures made of rope and manipulated, found steel hardware. Each sculpture comprises a cap, a clapper and an anchor. An arrangement of caps sits on the floor and over them hover clappers hung with rope suspended from the architecture of the space. On the other end of these ropes are anchors holding up its parts. The gallery floor is a field of anchors and their corresponding caps not too far away. The space is filled with the colorful rope running perfectly plumb from the gallery’s pipes and wooden slats near the ceiling and angling away from its vertical center. I became interested in the simple mechanism and principles behind, or rather inside, of a bell. This work explores the different forms that perform the parts of a bell. They are hung from the highest point of a space, maximizing the space it occupies, but vertically. Reminiscent of lost and faded aspirations of monumentalism. These sculptures not only embrace the architecture they are bound by, but also lean into the gravity and forces of tension and weight which all play an integral part in the work. When installed, the sculptures will be spread throughout the space with potential intersections between sculptures. I am interested in how these sculptures will change the way bodies move through the gallery. Bodies will skirt past anchors, caps and step over rope. Bodies will slither by sculptures that hang in tension and sway. Wind entering the gallery and small gusts from passing viewers will cause these sculptures to move ever so slightly. The movements are sensitive, as sensitive as viewers navigating through the exhibition space. Bells are associated with marking time, with religious rituals and to call communities together. These sculptures function not so far from that history as viewers gather in a gallery to see the work. I am interested in how these sculptures perform in their sensitive states of balance and weight affected by wind and observing viewers. Bodies that navigate the space with sensitivity will understand these sculptures the most. About the artist: Cara Rae Joven (b. 1988) is an artist and educator based in Los Angeles, CA. Joven received her MFA in 2020 from University of California, Riverside, her BFA from Art Center College of Design and her BA in Art History from University of California, Los Angeles. Born in Manila, Philippines and raised in Temecula, California, Joven grew up with a hybrid lens that continually impacts her work, whether she is utilizing sculpture, video or poetry. Joven’s interdisciplinary practice explores connecting threads, both physical and invisible, between body and land, and her personal and cultural history. The work considers how these ties are experienced in the body, and how they inform our relationships with each other, the land, and the future.
Reception: March 05, 2023 | 4-6 pm
CO-OPt Research + Projects
4204 Boston Ave
Lubbock, Texas 79413
Get Directions
