For all the art that addresses protest and activism, it’s surprisingly rare to come across a work as succinct and conceptually coherent as that of Jordan Corine Cruz.”Face to face, let’s burn together.” The object, installed at Haul Gallery, is a police barricade cast entirely in red wax with long wicks embedded at each end. As the wicks burn, the structure of the barricade slowly decays and collapses. It’s a simple but powerful gesture against what the artist calls “the language of application”.
References to Catholicism are embedded in his use of votive prayer candles as the source material for his sculpture. Implicit in the object’s slow collapse are notions of symbolic sacrifice and the act of prayer. Yet both rituals are subverted by repurposing the candles into an object that is destroyed rather than worshipped. Cruz’s ritual requires no kneeling or asking for forgiveness, just the desire to dismantle racist and oppressive structures.
The artist has reproduced the object cast in the past and envisions a future casting ritual in the Bronx. The people of his community are often surrounded, restrained and contained by barricades; the work is a direct challenge to this authoritarian control over their bodies and their freedom of movement. According to the artist, this is “the first iteration of a city-wide protest”.
“Face Each Other, Burn Together” is a perfect fit for the openly anti-capitalist Haul Gallery, a venue in a trailer 100 yards from the Gowanus Canal, where the subway rumbles every five minutes. Owners Max C. Lee and Erin Davis pledge to give artists 70% (instead of the usual 50%) of any sale because they don’t believe a gallery should be just another hurdle for artists to overcome . This is exactly the kind of neglected urban space where Cruz’s work resonates most – ritually transforming a symbol of oppression into an object of silent meditation.
Compete, Burn Together: Jordan Corine Cruz continues at Haul Gallery (24 9th Street, Trailer R, Gowanus, Brooklyn) through April 23. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
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