R. GESTE: AGNES
MAY 14–OCTOBER 23, 2022
Hernando’s Hideaway for the first time presents two solo exhibitions in its spaces: R. Geste: Agnes, a new work for the Sculpture Lawn and an installation by Carlos Rigau: Endless Everglades in the Garage Gallery. The works by the artists connect Hernando’s spaces by way of nature and ruin. Though aesthetically and conceptually distinct, their materials and language reference the temporality of the landscape and foundation surrounding them.
Working under a pseudonym, Los Angeles based artist R. Geste hand-loomed an 8-foot abstract pattern with text in Churro Wool using a traditional Navajo weaving style and displayed on two monolithic columns constructed from deteriorated and partially destroyed cast concrete Breeze Blocks. The weaving pattern on large tapestry is angular yet organic, echoing the signal marks of static noise, while its deep blues, yellow, greens, and browns harken the tail feathers of a Peacock or of moss, present only in their suggestion. Collected from the home in the neighborhood, the decorative Breeze Blocks take on a new life as the support structure for the weaving and make architectural its scale. The arrangement of the broken blocks mimic patterns of historical midcentury design and architecture. Notably known as Miami Modernism, reclaiming and reinventing the use of this once popular design material, now discarded for trends. R. Geste’s Agnes fills the sculpture lawn with the atmospheric absence of sound and of history passed.
Special thanks to David Lifshultz and Joshua Lifshultz of Miami Beach, Simon Armengol, Òscar Càrdenas, Eduardo Consuegra, Alberto Cruz, Jorge Luis Cruz, Alex Delgado, Juan Gonsalez, Terrel Hopkins, Mario Ramos, and the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs Miami Independent Artist (MIA) Stipend for helping us realize this work.
R. Geste is an artist based in Los Angeles, California. Previously working under the collective Galería Perdida, her exhibitions include: Oh Is It, Expert, Todd Madigan Gallery; All Else is Pale, Socrates Sculpture Park; And Per Se And, Commonwealth and Council; Routine Pleasures, MAK Center for Art and Architecture; I want to blush, f***ers, JOAN; Zelda Zonk, Preface Gallery, Paris; Somos fabricantes de alimentos en cuero and Todo la memoria del mundo, Casa del Lago Juan José Arreola, Mexico City; Let’s Smell it Together, CUE Foundation, New York; El carne de burro no es transparente, Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles; and Matryoshka, Recess Activities, New York.