Community Creates at the Palo Alto Art Center

 

 

 

Untitled (Monument for Palo Alto), 2012-2013
Clay, Wood, Wire, Video Game
H10' x W16' x D12' 

From PAAC press release: 

“My work is a collision of pop culture and cultural heritage. I draw from 1980s video games, Mesoamerican architecture, and

Minimalism to make sculpture that refers to times of transition and change. I use clay as a material to create a slippage between the digital age and the ancient: high tech and low.”

       —Carlos Ramirez

Carlos Ramirez creates sculptures and installations that he calls “monuments in progress.” For his Untitled (Monument for Palo Alto), Carlos created a wood structure that makes reference to Mesoamerican architecture. Leading up to and during the opening celebration on October 6, Carlos will work with the community to cast red clay tiles that will be placed on the structure. Over the course of the exhibition, the unfired tiles will shrink, crack, and decay—slowly turning into their own ruins.

To create the imagery on the tiles, Carlos worked closely with youth at the East Palo Alto Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula in East Palo Alto and the Center for the New Generation. He explored symbols with the youth, then they worked to create imagery for the tiles, using the pixelated style that recalls 1980s video games—a reference to our own Silicon Valley. The tile form not only creates associations to the use of clay in Mesoamerican cultures, but also in Mexican and Spanish revival architecture visible throughout Palo Alto and California.

With Untitled (Monument for Palo Alto), Carlos asks us, “what do we value and honor in society enough to create a monument for”

Special limited-edition prints by Carlos Ramirez focused on imagery from the project are available in The Gallery Shop.