SAID THE RAINBOW TO THE GRAVE
AMARYLLIS DEJESUS MOLESKI
LUCE GALLERY
Turin
from 29 October to 22 December 2020
Exhibition view, Said the Rainbow to the Grave, Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski’ solo show, Luce Gallery, Turin, 2020, Photo Andrea Ferrari, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, I was not a person, I was a place, 2020, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, cut paper, graphite, colored pencil, and airbrush on paper, sheet size 79.6 x 123.4 cm (31.3 x 48.5 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
In Turin, from 29 October to 22 December 2020, Luce Gallery presents the Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski’s solo show titled “Said the Rainbow to the Grave”.
The Afro-Puerto Rican artist questions the representation of women - queer, femme, brown and black -, who have long been excluded from the dominant artistic narrative.
Interested in the symbolism of the images as well as fantasy and mythology enthusiast, she draws and paints female figures of the future, forming a visual language, which tells stories of earthly and cosmic creations.
In the works, sinuous bodies with a third eye join earthly elements, such as rainbows, rain, stones, bones, flowers, and thunder. Her imagery of iridescent and fluorescent colors draws inspiration from alchemical, religious, spiritual, and ancient illustrations conceived to be read as texts.
Said the Rainbow to the Grave
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski
Exhibition text by Adeeba Afshan Rana, poet
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski concentrates on what we can feel but cannot see. Metallic iridescence and neon colors shimmer, illuminating a blueprint for survival that breathes life into ancient mythologies. Said the Rainbow to the Grave examines and alters our baseline, our symbols for what it means to be human. The rainbow is urgent, calling back to Taino stories of recognition and retribution. The story demands to be named. The ghosts are fleshy and autonomous, speaking to the unspeakable that is also the end.
From mountains and moons to roses and reflections of light, DeJesus Moleski contemplates the rainbow as a bridge between legacy, land, and the spiritual plane. She has painstakingly conjured a language of ghosts and inheritance, reminding us that creation is much slower than consumption. Her work folds time and curation into transmutation and growth. Cultivating these narratives is a radical act.
Fire crackles and stories are reborn, rooting us. DeJesus Moleski connects back to a lineage that whispers, until it shouts in saturated color; What if we survive? Hear the swoosh of the basketball, squeaking sneakers, the creak of bones like a forest of trees. Roses grow among the thorns. Eyes witness and ears absorb.
The bones are sacred and supreme sacrifice winds between the ample flesh of figures. DeJesus Moleski boldly prompts us to be in the practice of re-imagining what has been lost in the face of constant gendering and racialization by the colonizer gaze. Here is unapologetic queerness; femme bodies are collectivized origins, are what we must make into home, a portal that we must call home, even when we crave something more, something whose name has been lost and the unameable haunts us.
Fantasy and spirituality are used as a grounding force as life and death riot across each image. Through color and symbol, Moleski reminds us that the Caribbean, particularly the island of Puerto Rico has survived. It is more than a receptacle of people’s pleasure, more than a mutation of joy and flamboyance; it is a place that is also of the middle passage, of plunder and grief and erasure. Her work records real histories through fantastical elements where the mundane and profound occur all at once; the breath before the storm and the storm itself. Destruction and demise are present, married always to spirit.
This is what a storm feels like from the inside. Rain drops fall like nails clacking against one another. The goddess of the skies is moving fast and feeling herself, twerking and stretching and sighing, letting her hair guide the shift of her hips. No wonder a good ass thunderstorm feels like a reckoning, like a washing new and clean, like freedom from the inside out.
Every cell in this body is listening, listening, listening. Is straining to be heard when all every follicle can do is listen. Say home. Say tired. Say grace.
Femme Genesis holds its breath.
The day comes.
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski (1985, Bordeaux) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.The Afro-Puerto Rican artist earned her MFA from The Yale School of Art.Recently, she has been included in the group show titled “Women to the Fore” at Hudson River Museum (Yonkers, New York). In 2021, her works will be exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum and The Cue Foundation (New York). Furthermore, she has been selected for ESTAMOS BIEN: LA TRIENAL 20/21 at El Museo del Barrio in New York. The show is the museum’s first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art.
Said the Rainbow to the Grave
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski
Luce Gallery
Turin, from 29 October to 22 December 2020 (extended)
On-line video featuring the exhibition walkthrough guided by the artist’s voice: www.lucegallery.com/video.php
Largo Montebello 40, Italy
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 3:30 - 7:30 pm
+39 011 18890206
info@lucegallery.com
Instagram: lucegallery
Facebook: Luce Gallery
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO
Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com
+39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com
www.theknackstudio.com
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, The one time I dreamed it, it came true, 2020, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, cut paper, graphite, colored pencil and airbrush on paper, sheet size 162 x 106.9 cm (63.7 x 42 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, The Ref (patron ghost of no no no), 2020, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, cut paper, graphite, colored pencil and airbrush on paper, sheet size 174.1 x 124 cm (68.5 x 48.8 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, A new petition for the good and dead, 2020, gouache, watercolor, graphite and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 76.1 x 57.9 cm (29.9 x 22.7 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Philosopher’s stone (exorcism in utopia), 2020, gouache, watercolor and holographic vinyl on paper, sheet size 76.1 x 57.9 cm (29.9 x 22.7 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, A body is a portal you can’t close, 2020, gouache, acrylic and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 157 x 122.4 cm (61.8 x 48.1 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, The Ref (patron ghost of no no no), 2020, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, cut paper, graphite, colored pencil and airbrush on paper, sheet size 174.1 x 124 cm (68.5 x 48.8 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Patron Ghost of Open Skies (Thunderclap!), 2020, gouache, acrylic, cut paper, colored pencil and airbrush on paper, sheet size 122.4 x 213.6 cm (48.1 x 84 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Its what heals us, its what haunts us - part 1, 2020, gouache, watercolor, marker and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 145.9 x 114.1 cm (57.4 x 44.9 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Its what heals us, its what haunts us - part 2, 2020, gouache, watercolor, marker and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 145.9 x 114.1 cm (57.4 x 44.9 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
SAID THE RAINBOW TO THE GRAVE
AMARYLLIS DEJESUS MOLESKI
LUCE GALLERY
Turin
from 29 October to 22 December 2020
Exhibition view, Said the Rainbow to the Grave, Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski’ solo show, Luce Gallery, Turin, 2020, Photo Andrea Ferrari, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, I was not a person, I was a place, 2020, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, cut paper, graphite, colored pencil, and airbrush on paper, sheet size 79.6 x 123.4 cm (31.3 x 48.5 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
In Turin, from 29 October to 22 December 2020, Luce Gallery presents the Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski’s solo show titled “Said the Rainbow to the Grave”.
The Afro-Puerto Rican artist questions the representation of women - queer, femme, brown and black -, who have long been excluded from the dominant artistic narrative.
Interested in the symbolism of the images as well as fantasy and mythology enthusiast, she draws and paints female figures of the future, forming a visual language, which tells stories of earthly and cosmic creations.
In the works, sinuous bodies with a third eye join earthly elements, such as rainbows, rain, stones, bones, flowers, and thunder. Her imagery of iridescent and fluorescent colors draws inspiration from alchemical, religious, spiritual, and ancient illustrations conceived to be read as texts.
Said the Rainbow to the Grave
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski
Exhibition text by Adeeba Afshan Rana, poet
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski concentrates on what we can feel but cannot see. Metallic iridescence and neon colors shimmer, illuminating a blueprint for survival that breathes life into ancient mythologies. Said the Rainbow to the Grave examines and alters our baseline, our symbols for what it means to be human. The rainbow is urgent, calling back to Taino stories of recognition and retribution. The story demands to be named. The ghosts are fleshy and autonomous, speaking to the unspeakable that is also the end.
From mountains and moons to roses and reflections of light, DeJesus Moleski contemplates the rainbow as a bridge between legacy, land, and the spiritual plane. She has painstakingly conjured a language of ghosts and inheritance, reminding us that creation is much slower than consumption. Her work folds time and curation into transmutation and growth. Cultivating these narratives is a radical act.
Fire crackles and stories are reborn, rooting us. DeJesus Moleski connects back to a lineage that whispers, until it shouts in saturated color; What if we survive? Hear the swoosh of the basketball, squeaking sneakers, the creak of bones like a forest of trees. Roses grow among the thorns. Eyes witness and ears absorb.
The bones are sacred and supreme sacrifice winds between the ample flesh of figures. DeJesus Moleski boldly prompts us to be in the practice of re-imagining what has been lost in the face of constant gendering and racialization by the colonizer gaze. Here is unapologetic queerness; femme bodies are collectivized origins, are what we must make into home, a portal that we must call home, even when we crave something more, something whose name has been lost and the unameable haunts us.
Fantasy and spirituality are used as a grounding force as life and death riot across each image. Through color and symbol, Moleski reminds us that the Caribbean, particularly the island of Puerto Rico has survived. It is more than a receptacle of people’s pleasure, more than a mutation of joy and flamboyance; it is a place that is also of the middle passage, of plunder and grief and erasure. Her work records real histories through fantastical elements where the mundane and profound occur all at once; the breath before the storm and the storm itself. Destruction and demise are present, married always to spirit.
This is what a storm feels like from the inside. Rain drops fall like nails clacking against one another. The goddess of the skies is moving fast and feeling herself, twerking and stretching and sighing, letting her hair guide the shift of her hips. No wonder a good ass thunderstorm feels like a reckoning, like a washing new and clean, like freedom from the inside out.
Every cell in this body is listening, listening, listening. Is straining to be heard when all every follicle can do is listen. Say home. Say tired. Say grace.
Femme Genesis holds its breath.
The day comes.
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski (1985, Bordeaux) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.The Afro-Puerto Rican artist earned her MFA from The Yale School of Art.Recently, she has been included in the group show titled “Women to the Fore” at Hudson River Museum (Yonkers, New York). In 2021, her works will be exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum and The Cue Foundation (New York). Furthermore, she has been selected for ESTAMOS BIEN: LA TRIENAL 20/21 at El Museo del Barrio in New York. The show is the museum’s first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art.
Said the Rainbow to the Grave
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski
Luce Gallery
Turin, from 29 October to 22 December 2020 (extended)
On-line video featuring the exhibition walkthrough guided by the artist’s voice: www.lucegallery.com/video.php
Largo Montebello 40, Italy
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 3:30 - 7:30 pm
+39 011 18890206
info@lucegallery.com
Instagram: lucegallery
Facebook: Luce Gallery
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO
Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com
+39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com
www.theknackstudio.com
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, The one time I dreamed it, it came true, 2020, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, cut paper, graphite, colored pencil and airbrush on paper, sheet size 162 x 106.9 cm (63.7 x 42 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, The one time I dreamed it, it came true, 2020, detail, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, A new petition for the good and dead, 2020, gouache, watercolor, graphite and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 76.1 x 57.9 cm (29.9 x 22.7 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, A body is a portal you can’t close, 2020, gouache, acrylic and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 157 x 122.4 cm (61.8 x 48.1 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, The Ref (patron ghost of no no no), 2020, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, cut paper, graphite, colored pencil and airbrush on paper, sheet size 174.1 x 124 cm (68.5 x 48.8 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Patron Ghost of Open Skies (Thunderclap!), 2020, gouache, acrylic, cut paper, colored pencil and airbrush on paper, sheet size 122.4 x 213.6 cm (48.1 x 84 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Its what heals us, its what haunts us - part 1, 2020, gouache, watercolor, marker and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 145.9 x 114.1 cm (57.4 x 44.9 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Its what heals us, its what haunts us - part 2, 2020, gouache, watercolor, marker and colored pencil on paper, sheet size 145.9 x 114.1 cm (57.4 x 44.9 inches), Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
