Cruz Ortiz: HECHO FARM
Work by Cruz Ortiz.
HECHO FARM is a stage for the continued growth of artist Cruz Ortiz’s lovesick alter ego Spaztek, as well as an exploration of the material, social, and political possibilities of collaboration within an art education context. In his exhibition, Ortiz transforms the VAC’s Arcade gallery into a working “farm,” fleshed out with utilitarian sculptures, drawings, collages, hand-pulled screen-printed posters, multi-media text works, and perhaps even a pirate radio station.
As art objects, these elements depict Spaztek’s starry-eyed and tongue-twisted re-emergence from recent underground exploits. Yet they also serve as plans, tools, advertisements, and backdrops for an opening PRINT PARTY on September 21 and WORK PARTIES on October 27and November 17. These free events, which occur in HECHO FARM and are open to students and community members, encourage participants to build their skills through working and socializing together. The PRINT PARTY features screen-printing stations, while WORK PARTIES are focused around lyrical themes that prompt participants to collaborate on multimedia projects that involve graphic arts, sculpture, performance, and sound. The results of each party become a part of HECHO FARM, which constantly grows throughout the course of the exhibition. HECHO FARM continues the saga of Spaztek while creating a space for art education, production, and presentation. Visitors are invited to work, socialize, and make tools to change the world around them.
Bio
Cruz Ortiz (b. 1972, Texas) produces prints, flying machines, drawings, films, pushcarts, sculptures, banners, and rockets that he often crafts by hand from colorful re-purposed materials. The performative dimension of these works—many feature an alter ego named Spaztek—call for action on lost love and inequality, as well as other personal and political concerns. Ortiz received a BFA from The University of Texas at San Antonio. He has had solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston (2010), Artpace in San Antonio (2005), and the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art (2003), and his work has appeared in group shows such as Phantom Sightings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2008).
About the Curator
Kate Green received an MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard in 2003 and has worked as a curator and educator at Artpace San Antonio, PS 1/MoMA, and Dia Art Foundation. She has taught art history and exhibition history at Trinity University and has written criticism for publications such as Artforum, Art Papers, might be good…, and Modern Painters. She is currently an Art History PhD candidate at The University of Texas at Austin, writing a dissertation titled “Encountering Vito Acconci: Performance in the Early 1970s.”