beginning & the end, neither & the otherwise, betwixt & between, the end is the beginning & the end

Made you look, didn’t it? Imagine then, what a head-turner this installation was in real life!

A site-specific work by Raúl de Nieves for the 2017 Whitney Biennial, with floor-to-ceiling windows made to look like stained-glass, using paper, wood, glue, tape, beads, and acetate sheets. In front of them, the most heavily blinged sculptures, completely covered in beads, costume jewelry and heavy fabric, costumes that the artist is actually wearing himself when performing.

Doubtlessly the most bonkers installation of the 2017 Biennial but, for those searching for a deeper meaning, the accompanying tag had it all spelled out:

”In all of his work, de Nieves treats modest materials with meticulous attention, turning the mundane into the fantastical—with metamorphosis a common theme. The windows depict a world in which death and waste are omnipresent, often symbolized by a fly. Unlike many Western spiritual traditions, however, de Nieves presents death as a metaphor for the possibility of spectacular transformation and rebirth in an unpredictable and turbulent world.”

Ha! My nose is bigger than yours!

Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983 in Morelia, Mexico; lives in Brooklyn, NY)

beginning & the end, neither & the otherwise, betwixt & between, the end is the beginning & the end, 2016
Paper, wood, glue, acetates, tape, and beads, 195 x 456 5/16 in. (495.3 x 1159 cm).

Man’s best friend, 2016
Yarn, fabric, glue, beads, cardboard, found trim and mannequin

The longer I slip into a crack the shorter my nose becomes, 2016
Yarn, dress, glue beads, cardboard, found trim, apple, taxidermic bird and mannequin

Somos Monstros 2, 2016
Beads, glue found trim, cardboard, costume jewelry and dress

The 2017 Whitney Biennial

June 10th, 2017