Delsey Morelos, “Delsey Morelos: Embrace” at Dia Art Foundation, New York
October 5, 2023 to July 20, 2024
Delcy Morelos’ large-scale sculptures, composed primarily of earth, fill the room with large-scale installations that explore humans’ relationship with the land they walk on. Soil, hay, cinnamon, and cloves appear repeatedly in these transits, each with a varying purpose of conveying a cosmological view and inducing an altered state. Her sculptures are often monumental in scale and aesthetically spare, recalling the minimalist art of the 1960s and 1970s, although they also draw directly on the lore and aesthetics of Amazonian indigenous cultures.
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All this made Morelos a natural choice for the Dia Art Foundation, which started five years ago as a haven for minimalist and conceptual art. In recent years, Dia director Jessica Morgan has made it one of her stated goals to diversify the foundation’s offerings to interpret minimalist forms already present in the Western canon. Morelos, who was born in the Colombian town of Tiralta and now lives in the capital Bogota, responded to the minimalism already abundant in Dia’s collection, deftly repurposing the likes of Richard Serra, Robert Morris and others. , the cold, industrial-grade form of Walter’s art. De Maria and more.
Maria’s New York Earth Room (1977) is one of the main reference points for the two works on display, Embrace and earthly sky (both 2023). The latter work consists of black clay from the Hudson Valley, which she painted on the museum’s walls and floors; discarded objects from past Dia exhibitions also appear here. Plunged into near-darkness, viewers are treated to a scene that resembles an excavation site. EmbraceMeanwhile, it’s made from a towering mound of reclaimed soil mixed with hay and coir. Viewers can walk into a triangular area cut out of the center of the work and breathe in the earthy aroma. Unlike most museum displays that discourage closer contact with the art, viewers are explicitly told they can put their hands on it Embrace.
In this way, these two installations confer a perceptual privilege of viewing. A pamphlet accompanying the show reminds viewers that “to touch the earth is to be touched by her.” While visiting this exhibition, viewers gain a deeper understanding of the world around them.
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