Through vivid sculptural paintings, Los Angeles-based artist Estefania Ajcip peers in on the fractures families face when split apart. Ajcip spent much of her childhood in Guatemala, while her father worked in L.A. and missed pivotal moments of her youth. In a new body of work titled Folded Memories, the artist contends with this adolescent experience, extrapolating her recollections into poignant compositions filled with a longing for connection.
From birch plywood, papier mache, small LED lights, and acrylic, Ajcip constructs a surreal world in which childhood grief and dreams converge. She often works from family photos, pulling scenes and objects from her home and pushing them into a fantastical realm. “Momo 2012,” for example, depicts two adults grasping hands, while an opening in the wood reveals a forlorn girl and her paper train set.
Separations and fissures recur throughout the pieces, evoking the distance between Acjip and her father, while new details are revealed or concealed depending on the viewer’s perspective. In “Telephone game,” the artist appears with a paper phone and string held up to her ear, while her father stands at a public payphone that juts out from the two-dimensional canvas.
A similar perspective shift occurs in “Four paths/Two paths?” as a sculptural bus shuttling between L.A. and Guatemala. The latter’s national bird flutters at the vehicle’s front window, leading the way as a symbol of togetherness and hope. A statement adds that the piece most directly confronts “the familial unity that Ajcip so longed for throughout her childhood. Across the exhibition, Ajcip makes clear again and again how the longing that defined her youth now fuels her art, a powerful reminder that strength often grows in adversity.”
Folded Memories is on view through August 22 at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles. You also might be interested in the architectural portraits of Arghavan Khosravi.
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