Amplify Arts’ next Generator Grant project is a collaboration with Fortuna, an artist-run space and transdisciplinary artist residency program that connects artists and art communities in Omaha, NE and Mexico through reciprocity and exchange. Organizing two interlocking exhibitions: Desde Afuera (From the Outside) + Susurros de virtudes profundísimas: Rosita Relámpago (Whispers of Such Profound Virtues: Rosita Relámpago), on view concurrently at Amplify's Generator Space, Fortuna grounds the process of exchange in- and outside the gallery space to examine the limits of transnational mobility imposed by the colonial nation-state.
As part of its project, Fortuna will host casual open dialogue and Q&A with exhibition artist Rosita Relámpago (Oaxaca, 1994). Rosita will discuss her artistic process and her time in residence with Fortuna. Rosita was denied a visa request which would have permitted her travel to Omaha. Because of this, the open dialogue will be a hybrid event; Rosita will join us virtually from Mexico.
Join the conversation Thursday, June 16th at 7pm CST; on Zoom or in-person. In-person attendance will be by appointment and limited to 15 people, or fewer. Face masks are required. Please register through Eventbrite to attend in person or follow the link below to join on Zoom:
Generator Grant programming is presented with support from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
From Rosita:
My work is about symbols; just out of reach of a fixed meaning, whether drawing or clay works (often extra-semiotic with a fluid, playful seriousness), these symbols constitute my journey into the magical.
For me, this boundary is an important one. The gesture of form in a symbol provides the suggestion of a path where all worlds can meet, both the visible and the unseen. The intent is an abstraction, a buzzing constantly going on around me (like a moth’s jerking motion through the air), all collected into a complete atmosphere. Something I am not sure I can possess.
The elements are between earth and water (clay), fixed by uncivilized fire, on the mountaintop above a forest. I am comfortable with the body of the fire. This is where I find myself. An aquarius, of the air but a water-bearer.
Higher forces can enter or be condensed. Generally, the works start as a complete sigil received from the outside, drawn small, folded in half for symmetry. There is a complex relationship with the visionary act that I’m still discovering: what is created somehow also takes place in the body.
I’m always going back to the cosmovisions of pre-hispanic cultures and their relationship with vessels; whether for drinking specific substances or a divine something that enters into your body from another body. Something nebular and electric, with phosphorescent colors, not unlike an old sensation of angels.
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Mi trabajo es sobre símbolos; más allá de superar un significado fijo, ya sea dibujo o barro (podrían ser extra-semióticos con una seriedad lúdica fluida), constituyen mi viaje hacia lo mágico.
Este límite es importante para mí. El gesto de la forma en un símbolo proporciona la sugerencia de un camino donde todos los mundos pueden encontrarse, tanto el visible como el invisible. El intento es una abstracción, un zumbido constante que sucede a mi alrededor (como el movimiento espasmódico de una polilla en el aire) todo reunido en una atmósfera completa. Algo que no estoy segura de poseer.
Los elementos entre la tierra y el agua (barro), fijados por el incivilizado fuego, en la cima de la montaña, sobre el bosque. Me siento cómoda con el cuerpo del fuego. Ahí me encuentro. Acuario del aire, pero portador de agua.
Fuerzas superiores pueden entrar o condensarse. Generalmente, las obras comienzan como un recibido y completo sigilo, dibujado pequeñito, doblado por la mitad en simetría. Hay una relación compleja con el acto visionario que todavía estoy descubriendo: lo que se crea de alguna manera también sucede en el cuerpo.
Siempre intentando regresar a la cosmovisión de las culturas prehispánicas y a su relación con las vasijas. Ya sea por beber sustancias específicas, o por un propósito divino algo entra a tu cuerpo desde otro cuerpo. Algo eléctrico y nebular, con colores fosforescentes, no muy diferente de la antigua sensación de los ángeles.
Rosita Relámpago was born in the State of Mexico in 1994. She currently resides in Oaxaca. Her discourse focuses on the development of an abstract and intimate language based on the gesture and form of a symbol. It suggests a route of connections between the visible and the invisible, automatic writing, trance, movement, rhythm and dance. She develops a body of work made up of a family of clay pieces that deal with the translation of symbols as a representation of the body and spirit through a vessel. Her practice always stems from pre-Hispanic civilizations, their relationship with ceremony, divine purpose, and sustenance.
Rosita Relámpago nació en el Estado de México en 1994. Actualmente reside en Oaxaca. Su discurso tiene que ver con el desarrollo de un lenguaje abstracto e íntimo basado en el gesto y la forma en un símbolo. Sugiere un camino de conexiones entre lo visible y lo invisible, la escritura automática, el trance, el movimiento, el ritmo y la danza. Desarrolla un cuerpo de obra conformado por una familia de piezas de barro que tienen que ver con la traslación de símbolos como una representación del cuerpo y el espíritu a través de la vasija. Siempre partiendo de las civilizaciones prehispánicas, su relación con la ceremonia, el propósito divino y la sustancia.
Fortuna is an artist-run space and transdisciplinary artist residency program that connects artists and art communities in Omaha, NE and Mexico through reciprocity and exchange. By bridging the physical and rhetorical distances between these artists, Fortuna grounds its exchange program in collaborative, community-centered, site-specific residencies that cultivate a deeper cross-cultural understanding of place.