Eugene Artist's Work Displays At Governor's Office

From OR Arts Commission: Eugene artist Jovencio de la Paz will exhibit “Every stitch in the world of flames” in the Governor’s Office of the Capitol Building in Salem from Oct. 1 to Nov. 29. De la Paz explores how textile processes — such as weaving, dye and stitch-work — intersect with broader concerns of language, histories of colonization, migrancy, ancient technology and speculative futures.

Confronting issues of embodiment and disembodiment, his current work employs a hand-operated digital TC2 Jacquard loom to create textiles that exist between the physicality of cloth and the ephemeral states of digital.

His work in “Every stitch in the world of flames” capitalizes on the lineage that unites hand-looms, punch-card Jacquard looms and IBM’s early punch-card computers. The resulting textiles are familiar in their tactility and surface, but alien in their digital geometries and pixelated distortions.

De la Paz received an MFA in Fibers from the Cranbrook Academy of Art (2012) and a BFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008). He has exhibited work in solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, most recently at The Museum of Contemporary Art (Denver, Colorado); Ditch Projects (Springfield); The Art Gym (Marylhurst); ThreeWalls (Chicago); Casey Droege Cultural Productions (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); The Alice (Seattle); Carl & Sloan Contemporary Art (Portland); 4th Ward Projects (Chicago); SPACE Gallery (Portland, Maine); SOIL Gallery (Seattle); and Uri Gallery (Seoul, South Korea).

He regularly teaches at schools of art, craft and design throughout the country, including the Ox Bow School of Art (Saugatuck, Michigan), the Haystack Mountain School of Craft (Deer Isle, Minnesota), and the Arrowmont School of Craft (Tennessee). De la Paz is a co-founder of the collaborative group Craft Mystery Cult, established in 2010.

The Art in the Governor’s Office Program honors selected artists in Oregon with exhibitions in the reception area of the Governor’s Office in the State Capitol.

Artists are nominated by a statewide committee of arts professionals who consider artists representing the breadth and diversity of artistic practice across Oregon, and are then selected by the Arts Commission with the participation of the Governor’s Office.

Only professional, living Oregon artists are considered and an exhibit in the Governor’s office is regarded as a “once in a lifetime” honor. Artists whose work has previously been shown in the Governor’s office include Henk Pander, Michele Russo, Manuel Izquierdo, James Lavadour, Margot Thompson, Gordon Gilkey and Yuji Hiratsuka.

Image via OR Arts Commission