Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa: Shit-Baby and The Crumpled Giraffe

Shit-Baby and the Crumpled Giraffe is an exquisite display of Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa’s characteristic penchant towards humor, abjection, and performance as he transforms bodily action into object form . For his solo exhibition at Plug In ICA, Ramirez-Figueroa immerses the viewer in a theatrical space where the fantastical meets a corporeal reality. He sets a stage through a series of sculptural forms painstakingly constructed out of Styrofoam, revealing an imaginary and infantile world.

Exploiting an interest in the function and training of the body that is most acutely encountered in childhood, for this presentation at Plug In ICA, Shit-Baby and the Crumpled Giraffe will be adapted from its recent incarnation at the Kunsthalle Lissabon  in Portugal (Fall 2017). Invited into the exhibition through a scattering of objects , viewers encounter imperfect colored vessels arranged in careful clusters, and dispersed amidst small piles of “beautifully sculpted poo”. One deviant strand hovers serpent-like – fantastical and ominous, airborne amidst a human-sized giraffe; a sneaker-wearing pelican carrying a sack of feces; and a seated naked toddler.

Nafus Ramírez Figueroa is a Guatemalan-born, Berlin-based artist. Working in sculpture, performance, video, installation and printmaking, Figueroa’s work is grounded in mechanisms and conditions of colonialism worldwide, with specific investment in Guatemalan history. Receiving ongoing support from Corpus (2015-present), Figueroa has engaged in a series of performances that he describes as an “attempt to exhaust my interest into the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1990)”. The weight of his subjects is often tempered by a playful material sensibility, forays into childhood, dreams, fantasy and the complexity of embodiment. Figueroa holds a BFA from Emily Carr University, Vancouver with a specialization in media art, and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has garnered international acclaim, with notable inclusions in Viva Arte Viva, 57th Venice Biennale 2017; Incerteza viva, 32nd São Paulo Biennale, 2016; Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Biennale, 2014 and in 2016, he was a resident artist at DAAD, in Berlin. He also has strong ties to Canada, where his work was featured on the cover of FUSE Magazine in 2013 and in 2018-19 Figueroa will present three major solo exhibitions in Canada, at Grunt Gallery, Vancouver; the Audain Gallery, Vancouver; and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg.