Purple Art

[October 5 2023]

New Lexicons for Embodiment, an exhibition by Bárbara Sánchez-Kane at Kurimanzutto, NYC.

Mexican artist and wild child Bárbara Sánchez-Kane deftly blurs the line between art and fashion, sculpture and garb in her first New York solo-show at Kurimanzutto. Titled New Lexicons for Embodiment, this voluminous exhibition harnesses Sánchez-Kane’s unmistakable aesthetic into an assembly of shape-shifting works across different media, all exploring themes of identity and self-expression, societal constraints and power structures. Sánchez-Kane, who began her career as a fashion designer, turns her imaginative and critical gaze to the inherent vanities and absurdities of the fashion world. In her darkly playful universe, clothes are sartorial portmanteaus that combine a multitude of meanings and (dis)functions – a pair of penny loafers whose ‘tongue’ doubles as a coin purse; a deflated empty suit, both object and subject, sitting languorously in a chair; leather harnesses interwoven into massive sculptural pieces vaguely reminiscent of a deconstructed yoroi, the armour worn by samurais. Indeed, her clothes can be seen as amour, facilitators of the individual performances of identity.

On view until October 21st, 2023 at Kurimanzutto in New York City.
520 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011, United States.

Text by Anfisa Vrubel

Images courtesy of Kurimanzutto and Anfisa Vrubel.