{"id":529565,"date":"2026-07-16T20:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/529565\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:21:11","slug":"the-artists-working-in-velvet-amethyst-and-relics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/529565\/","title":{"rendered":"The Artists Working in Velvet, Amethyst, and Relics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Art Review<\/a><\/p>\n

An exhibition showcases works by Sky Hopinka, vanessa german, April Bey, and others that have connections to spiritual practices and rituals.<\/p>\n


\n \"Claudia
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"The
\n Installation view of works by April Bey in Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination (2026) (photo Chris Young \/ CC YOUNG STUDIO, courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles; all other photos Claudia Ross\/Hyperallergic) <\/p>\n

PASADENA, Calif. \u2014 When Marshall McLuhan remarked that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d he was not referring to tapestries made from crushed velvet or sculptures crafted from wood and amethyst crystals \u2014 although Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination<\/a> at Armory Art Center might suggest otherwise. First uttered in 1958 during a radio broadcast, the phrase addressed the rise of then-new technologies like television and video, which, according to McLuhan, shaped the reception, influence, and even character of their content. A similar idea infuses Material Prophecies, which features eight artists working with materials that have deep-seated connections to spiritual practices and religious rituals. To what extent, they seem to ask, does each medium determine the meaning \u2014 or \u201cmessage\u201d \u2014 of art itself?<\/p>\n

The exhibition wavers in its answer. A few works keep close to the theme, foregrounding raw materials in their most bare form. Five wall reliefs from Jackie Am\u00e9zquita\u2019s 2024 Earthworks series use mud, masa, and dried clay to create cracked, rectangular surfaces redolent of painterly canvases. Others stray further. Joel Gaitan\u2019s sculptures use a similarly unvarnished, unglazed clay \u201cassociated with devotional objects,\u201d per the wall text. In \u201cNo Pidas Agua, Cuando No Hay Sed\u201d (2024), a lounging terracotta figure sports a crown, metallic teeth, and chunky gold jewelry. The figure\u2019s confident pose and lavish adornment assert a contemporary defiance, while its texture and rounded shape recall that of pre-Colombian ceramic vessels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Left: Installation view of works by Jackie Am\u00e9zquita; right: installation view of works by Joel Gaitan<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the exhibition\u2019s focus can feel strained. Calethia DeConto\u2019s \u201cMapping the Emotional Weather of Memory and the Space Between\u201d (2026) is a sprawling cyanotype installation featuring 25 small, circular blue-and-white \u201cphotographs\u201d pinned in a weblike constellation across one wall. Framed as \u201cintimate\u201d and \u201cemotional\u201d in exhibition materials, the prints center female figures posing in seaside landscapes alongside natural ephemera like shells and plants. The medium\u2019s history complicates this more visceral, bodily framing; invented in 1842 by British electrochemist John Herschel, cyanotypes were originally used in scientific expeditions to Antarctica and New Zealand, a practice more rooted in colonization than spirituality.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The strongest works fit the exhibition\u2019s brief the least. Emmanuel Louisnord Desir\u2019s standout sculptures use a combination of wood and bronze that reference \u201cAfrican Diasporic traditions of carved and cast figures,\u201d according to the wall text \u2014 but what\u2019s on view resists the stricter categorization. \u201cRaging Machine\u201d (2025) assembles industrially manufactured devices and machines \u2014 a pencil sharpener, a handaxe \u2014 into a bronze hybrid creature halfway between a robot and a person. Another highlight is vanessa german\u2019s \u201cDAMN.\u201d (2024), a portrait bust entirely encrusted with pink rose quartz, its neck draped in a linked chain made from metal bottle caps. The face itself appears superhuman, its translucent, pastel skin entirely singular.<\/p>\n

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