Gargoyles Viewing Room
Gargoyles
Ling-lin Ku and R. Eric McMaster
Curated by Allison Malinsky
November 24 - December 20, 2022
at La Mecánica
Working in tandem, Ling-lin Ku (Taiwan) and R. Eric McMaster (North America), create tangible, almost toylike in size, architectural elements stemming from reimagined workings of a city’s innards. Sculptural objects in bronze, ceramic, plexiglass, and other materials each contain built-in sound pieces, accompanied by a video work. The artists´ material centric infrastructures embody humor, a lightness to natural aquatic problems a city systematically tries to contain.
This multimedia exhibition focuses on the connection between decorative myths and the utile purpose of city installation systems. The fun and appeal lie in the object´s inventive details; exquisitely hand built sculptures of aquatic forms and references which emit transitory sounds water could make on its journey through the interiors of a city on its way out to sea.
The works foster a building narrative, water flow comes first going down the drains, and from the perceived safety of our homes, through a window, we see the streets fill. Gargoyles were thought to keep evil spirits away, a hopeful credence to counter real intertwined infrastructure and bureaucracy. What if there are no wave breakers, how do we climb out of the coming deep water, what shape does the water take and how is it measured, removed; Ku and McMaster respond with their collaborative character and humor.
Close up view of Floatsome (plexiglass puddles), 2022. Plexiglass, brass, brass-infused 3D prints, PLA 3D prints, aluminum.
80 x 50 x 12in (203 x 127 x 36 cm)
Drained (rain charm), 2022. Brass. 94in x 40 in x 29in (239x102x74cm)
Drained (rain charm), 2022. Brass. 94in x 40 in x 29in (239x102x74cm)
Blocked (window box), 2022. Plywood, MDF, copper pipes, digital print on chiffon, Brass, single-channel audio and transducer, 24in x 30in x 7.5in (61x76x19cm)
Close up view of Floatsome (plexiglass puddles), 2022. Plexiglass, brass, brass-infused 3D prints, PLA 3D prints, aluminum.
80 x 50 x 12in (203 x 127 x 36 cm)
Floatsome (plexiglass puddles), 2022. Plexiglass, brass, brass-infused 3D prints, PLA 3D prints, aluminum.
80 x 50 x 12in (203 x 127 x 36 cm)
UP (flood bug), 2022. MDF, Brass, transducer, 2-channel audio. 42 x 7.3 x 1.7 in. (106 x 18.5x 4.3 cm)
Close up of UP (flood bug), 2022. MDF, Brass, transducer, 2-channel audio. 42 x 7.3 x 1.7 in. (106 x 18.5x 4.3 cm)
Wavebreakers, 2022
Wavebreakers, 2022. 1080p animation w/ stereo sound, runtime: 8:00
Water Wing, 2022. OSB, walnut, brass, with Wavebreakers animation behind.
Water Wing, 2022. OSB, walnut, brass.
Leap (pool ladder), 2022. aluminum tubing, PLA 3D prints, 3.13in x 23.65in x 70in (8x60x177cm)
Plug, 2022. Brass (installed throughout gallery).
Slurp, 2022. Brass, wood. 30cm with Wavebreakers animation behind.
Slurp, 2022. Brass, wood. 30cm.
Gargoyles Installation, 2022.
Support provided by:
A special thank you to
Grateful for the inclusion in
Collaborating artists, Ling-lin Ku and R. Eric McMaster working in tandem.
Ling-Lin Ku and R. Eric McMaster are a masterful collaborative team with their combined talents and cumulative technical and exhibition experience. Ling-lin Ku’s studio is a playground where she uses digital data and tangible materials to playfully question the physical world through digital fabrication and sculpture while R. Eric McMaster builds complex sculptures, often upending perceptions and using all the viewers´ senses. He does this by creating composed soundscapes for his installations, as well as video, performances, and installations. Both artists use daily references, reimagining our relationships to the known object that often slip in and out of art categorization.
Ku and McMaster have exhibited their work internationally at institutions such as; Hiroshima MOCA, Blanton Museum of Art, The Contemporary Austin, Atelier 11, Paris, Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Art Center, Maryland, the Slocomb Gallery, Johnson City, Tennessee, The Contemporary, San Antonio, Texas, Locust Projects, Miami, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, Antenna Gallery in New Orleans, and the Lawndale Art Center, Houston, among other exhibitions in cities ranging from Salzburg to South Gimpo, Korea.
Their grants and residencies include widely recognized international and national awards such as; the Seebacher Prize in Fine Arts awarded from the American Austrian Foundation, the Umlauf Expanded Prize, the Houston Artadia Fellow, Honorable Mention of Innovative Award by International Sculpture Center, Virginia Museum of Fine Art Fellowship, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, and numerous international residencies including Vermont Studio Center, OxBow, Penland, 18 Street Arts Center, LA, and Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos, New Mexico, to name a few.
Ling-lin Ku received her MFA from University of Texas at Austin and BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is currently a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University where she is an assistant professor at the school of art. R. Eric McMaster received his MFA from Arizona State University and BFA from Pennsylvania State University. He is an Austin-based artist and Associate Professor of Practice Studio Art: Sculpture & Extended Media at The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Art & Art History.
LA HUERTA is a contemporary art project initiated to amplify the presence of international artists in Barcelona.
Founded by Allison Malinsky, the artist-run gallery is in the process of building towards its non-profit status.