For 2018-2019, we have resumed our exhibition program in The Office, in which we are presenting works by invited, unrepresented artists in the region. This series of shows will each run for two months and is curated by Disjecta Director Blake Shell.
Maya Vivas is a ceramic sculptor and performance artist residing in Portland, OR. She uses the pliable nature of clay to mold gestural sculptures that are an extension of her body and, in turn, become their own autonomous beings. According to the artist, “I sculpt with shadow and light as an exploration of the senses; creating folds, complexity and narrative…retranslating these motifs into newly invented forms that are alive, sensual, and dynamic.” Topics of race, identity, and gender also inform the artist’s work and are evident in this current exhibition.
Artist Statement:
I am interested in relating to clay as an extension of my body and as it’s own autonomous being. Through push, pull, and mark making, I sculpt with shadow and light as an exploration of the senses; creating folds, complexity, and narrative. My work captures textures of mineral, flora, and body, re-translating these motifs into newly invented beings.
Through sculptural gesture, I explore concepts of race, identity, and gender as filtered through my own experience as a queer black femme. I am interested in using beauty and abstraction to investigate meditations originating from my own neurotic tendencies, mixed with ideas of absurdity, elegance, sensuality, science fiction, and body horror. Rooted in the anxiety that comes from feeling simultaneously detached from my being but also hyper-aware of every internal and external sensation, each work is pulsing, expanding and rippling beneath the viewer’s gaze.