Public Space One presents colorful clay sculptures by Narciso Meneses Elizalde at the PS1 Northside Gallery in Iowa City through October 25. The exhibition, called Dreams and Reflections of Flower Worlds, celebrates Mesoamerican Indigenous culture by promoting the “Old Ways,” or costumbre. Elizalde will speak at the gallery on Weds., October 1, 5 p.m., with a reception to follow from 6-8 p.m.
“The Old Ways have long been practiced and created throughout what is now called Mesoamerica, from times immemorial to the present,” Elizalde explains. “The highly significant concepts and noble values expressed through these ancestral practices and related creations are among my most important sources of inspiration, not only for creative endeavors but for many other aspects of life.”
The polymer clay sculptures in the exhibition vibrate with ripples of bright color. Elizalde says they “depict scenes that generally include humans and other-than-human beings performing actions concerning traditional Mesoamerican ritualism, especially in regards to themes of world renewal and participation in universal networks of relations.”
The “Flower World” referred to in the exhibition title alludes to deeply sacred locations, “multifaceted agential dimensions of the living universe.” Elizalde calls them “essentially ideal, yet experientially real, deified embodiments of the sacred living Earth as transcendent yet immanent prodigious cosmic expressions of abundance, positivity, healing, and renewal in the living environment.” He adds that “throughout the Indigenous Americas, the forces that generate and maintain the cycle of life renewal have long been and still are elevated to divine status of the highest degrees.”
Originally from Hidalgo, Mexico, Elizalde earned his BFA from the University of Iowa in 2013 and has exhibited throughout Eastern Iowa. He belongs to Revitalizadores del Papel, which works to revitalize the manufacture and ritual implementation of traditional amate paper in the Otomí-Tepehua Highlands Mexico through the collective project La Fuerza del Papel Amate.
PS1 is located at 229 N. Gilbert in Iowa City and open Fridays, 4-6 p.m. Saturdays, 12-3 p.m., or by appointment: gallery@publicspaceone.com.