The Magnificent Seven: Capp Street: Abraham Cruzvillegas
Abraham Cruzvillegas is the first participant in the Wattis Institute's The Magnificent Seven program and our fall Capp Street Project artist in residence. The Mexican artist is best known for his sculptures that transform everyday objects, such as found scrap wood and weathered buoys, into elegant compositions. The artist plays the role of a scavenger, finding value in the discarded.
Over the past semester Cruzvillegas and students in the Graduate Program in Fine Arts have been investigating concepts of need and scarcity in relation to object making. Their starting point was the customization and transformation of found materials into bicycles and other functional vehicles. Discussing the forms the vehicles might take, options ranged from a delirious machine to a popcorn vehicle, an art-making trailer, a happy machine, a mirror-reflecting vehicle, a festival-on-the-go machine, a mobile sound system, a half-man half-vehicle, a music vehicle, an elements wagon, a bike raft, and a bird surrey. The themes inspiring these forms included memories, community, imagination, motion, happiness, celebration, environment, work, speed, energy, and fun. The students also aimed to address issues specific to the Bay Area such as pollution, community, economics, and politics. They visited numerous scrap yards, then collected and recycled parts from old bikes with other found objects and junk to create three vehicles, which will be presented in the nave and paraded in front of CCA's SF campus.
Student artists: Fred Alvarado, Natalia Anciso, Angela Camille, Daniel Dallabrida, Rachel Dawson, Crystal De la Torre, Courtney Johnson, Vanessa Nava, Carlos Ramirez, Allison Rowe
On view in the Nave
November 15-29
Parade and race with hot dogs and soda pop
Saturday, November 21, 2-5p.m.
in front of CCA's main San Francisco campus building at 1111 8th Street
Residency
August 31-December 12
Lead sponsorship for the Capp Street Project artist residency of Abraham Cruzvillegas is provided by the Nimoy Foundation. Special thanks to Monica Manzutto & Jose Kuri for supporting the participation of Abraham Cruzvillegas in The Magnificent Seven program.
For extra magnificence on Abraham Cruzvillegas: CRV: Collaborative Re-creation Vehicles, click here to read a response from a participant of CCA's Graduate Visual + Critical Studies Program.
