Alumnus ektor garcia '16 in First Solo Exhibit, 'Oax.D.F.L.A.N.O.H.K'

Oax.D.F.L.A.N.O.H.K stands for Oaxaca, Mexico City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hong Kong: these are all the places where alumnus ektor garcia '16 has exhibited his artwork. This is also the title of garcia’s first solo show in Asia, at Hong Kong’s Empty Gallery.

Of this neologistic title for the show, the gallery writes, “These were the national lines (different time-zones, cultures, political situations, trade-routes) criss-crossed by the artist’s body, and his works...It may seem strange to speak of travel during this particular moment of closed borders and restricted movement. However, the sense of spiritual restlessness, of perpetually re-negotiated borders and interstices...invoked by garcia’s title are fundamental to the being of the works themselves.”

Portals and thresholds feature in Oax.D.F.L.A.N.O.H.K, most distinctly in a series of hanging works titled Portale(s), described by the gallery as “intricate networks of animal skin or metal [which] gently defray the physical gesture of entry while simultaneously pointing towards a more metaphysical mode of access.” In between the portals are a series of ceramics, “quasi-totemic vessels” that are arranged throughout the gallery in the manner of altars and workbenches.

Empty Gallery debuted garcia’s show on June 20. It will close on August 22. In-person visits seem to be allowed, with restrictions in place. A collection of garcia’s work in the gallery can be found online here.

garcia, born in 1985, received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014, and his MFA from Columbia University, New York in 2016. Solo exhibitions include Sculpture Center, Long Island City, USA; Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada; Mary Mary, Glasgow, Scotland; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Progetto, Lecce, Italy; kurimanzutto, Salon ACME, Mexico City, Mexico. Group exhibitions include LAXART, Los Angeles; New Museum, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Luhring Augustine, Salon 94, Sargent’s Daughters, New York; Chicken Coop Contemporary, Portland, USA; Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico; ACCA, Melbourne, Australia. garcia lives and works in between Mexico, New York, and elsewhere.