JOHANNA UNZUETA 'DEEP IN THE POOL' AT HOUSE OF PROPELLERS, LONDON

Johanna Unzueta, and her ex-Chilean friend


House of Propellers in collaboration with curator Cecilia Brunson is pleased to present the first UK solo exhibition of Johanna Unzueta. The presentation will consist of one installation of industrial sculptures specifically made for the
gallery.

Working against any grain of sensationalism by using materials such as felt, fabric, wood and cardboard, Johanna Unzueta’s practice explores the history of labour. She sews and assembles simple representations of basic work tools like shovels, wheelbarrows, axes, boxes, nails and pipes. These objects are literal reconstructions of artefacts used in manual work, as well as delicate allegories of the history of technological advancement. In her sculptures the notion of labour exists not only in a social and historical context, but is also present in the careful handicraft and fabrication of each artwork. One of the common denominators in her installations is the atmosphere of playfulness and subtle humour, as she adjusts variations in scale that tend to shift viewer’s perception.

Johanna Unzueta was awarded the 2010 Pulse Prize for best solo booth at the New York Armory Fair. And recently exhibited her first monographic exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art in New York.

Johanna Unzueta (b. 1974), lives and works in New York City since 2000. She has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions including: “Iron Folklore”, Queens Museum of Art, New York (2009); “The Skills”, Christinger de Mayo, Zürich (2008); “Linea de Hormigas”, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro (2007); “Johanna Unzueta”, Thrust Projects, New York City (2007); “Ora y Labora”, Die Ecke Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago (2006); and “Trapped by Mutual Affection”, a project by Galerie Christian Nagel, Miami (2005). Upcoming group exhibitions include “Contaminaciones Contemporaneas”, at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo; and “Like a river that stops being a river or like a tree that is burning in the horizon without knowing it is burning”, Temporary Gallery, Cologne. Her second solo show at Christinger de Mayo, Zürich, will open in late August 2010.