In the Garden
On a characteristically foggy summer day, I made my way to the Bayview - where sunny skies and the collaborative exhibition Habiti’s Castle, with works by Maryam Yousif and Nick Makanna awaited in the new Guerrero Gallery garden space. Crossing under the freeway into the Bayview the fog immediately lifted, the first of many state changes. Such a drastic state change precipitates the mind to pay attention, unlocking the areas of intrigue and curiosity.
Installation view: Habiti’s castle. Image courtesy of Guerrero Gallery
Entering through the side gate, the viewer is immediately confronted by Makanna’s Rune XXXVII, a towering ceramic lattice structure glazed in earthly pastels of orange, green, and blue. Standing over five feet tall, this gatekeeper beckons you to a new frontier of the exhibition - one unrestrained by white walls. Rune XXXVII feels like an expansion of Makanna’s Isolationism series, wall-mounted ceramics reminiscent of ornate window grates. The sculpture reaches towards the sky, at ease in a dynamic space.
Continuing along, the viewer wanders at leisure through the simple labyrinth of the garden, Yousif’s pop-historical figurative handbags and Makanna’s enigmatic structures fill the nooks and crannies of the space, resting on stacks of bricks and nestled between cacti. The natural scenography accentuates the primordial origins of their work. At a material level, ceramic and brick exist on the same plane. Yet the creativity and technical prowess of Yousif and Makanna demonstrate the pertinence of creation beyond a purely functional purpose.
Installation View: Habiti’s Castle
Yousif’s most recognizable works take the form of ceramic handbags glazed in bright colors. Often decorated with human faces, at times even anthropomorphic, these bags recall the handbags often carried by Assyrian gods in ancient stone carvings. Some of Yousif’s newer works are self-referential, conical-shaped female figures draped in clothing inspired by the artist’s mother and grandmother who carry these same bags. Like Makanna’s Rune, these sculptures feel unrestricted in the garden, at home amongst the touch of the sun and the shade of the lemon trees.
Yousif’s work is united by a conceptual line imaging her native Iraq emphasized by cultural traditions instead of colonial destruction - the freedom of these figures emphasize the desire for this cultural independence and liberty. Much of the colorful expression in Yousif’s figures is drawn from album covers of Arabic pop stars who made a marked impression during her upbringing. These sculptures play an important role in recentering the American perception of Iraq, one that unfortunately focuses on oppression and war rather than creativity and expression. While rewriting a narrative corrupted by hegemonic influence is a mighty task, Yousif’s oeuvre provides an essential beginning in correcting the course.
Maryam Yousif, Habibiti Herself, Glazed Ceramic, 16 x 9 x 6in, 2020
Yousif and Makanna have shown together at Guerrero Gallery before, yet under the guise of separate solo exhibitions. To now see their work together allows for deeper interrogations of each body of work. The underlying historical structure pertinent in Yousif’s work becomes more evident when juxtaposed Makanna’s timeless, quasi-relic structures. Simultaneously, when viewed alongside Yousif’s work, the viewer is encouraged to consider more than abstraction to understand Makanna’s sculpture.
Maryam Yousif and Nick Makanna, Dishdasha Girl on Moon Column, Glazed Ceramic, 53 x 13 x 13in, 2020
The breadth of possibility in Makanna’s work is highlight most clearly in the difference between two works. The collaborative sculpture Dishdasha Girl on Moon Column is one of the first pieces done by Yousif and Makanna together. In the piece, Makanna’s element is nearly entirely structural, it provides support for for Yousif’s personnage, reinforcing the structural assumption of Makanna’s pieces. Yet deeper in the garden, the standalone sculpture Rune XXXVI subverts all expectations of Makanna’s work. In place of the typical architectural lattice structure, Rune XXXVI draws its inspiration from nature. The sculptures consists of a white column, flanked by leaves or petals on the ground, while number of colored branches extend from the top. While Makanna’s architectural sculpture appear as relics of a nearly forgotten past, the animation of Rune XXXVI suggests a less weighty nostalgia.
Nick Makanna, Rune XXXVI, Glazed Ceramic, 53 x 24 x 22in, 2020
This change is highlighted by the difference in venue. Last summer, Yousif and Makanna exhibited in Guerrero Gallery’s cavernous white cube, their ceramic pieces flanked by white walls and tall ceilings. The garden, unpredictable with its intimate corners and meandering layout removes, presents artwork without the rigidity of such a white-walled structure. Presenting Yousif and Makanna’s work (as well as Nicki Green and Ricki Dwyer in a prior exhibition) in such a manner encourages a more intimate connection and presents the case for wider experimentation in contemporary art spaces.
If we are to learn anything from 2020, it is that we must subvert our expectations. Contemporary art’s existence is not limited to the expected cavernous white-walled spaces filled predominately with paintings, in fact, it thrives outside of such surroundings. Strolling through the garden, I was struck by the realization that despite the non-traditional setting, there was no obstacle to the search for meaning and appreciation of beauty.
Maryam Yousif, Cosmic Handbag Figurine: Out of Body Experience, Glazed Ceramic, 13.5 x 8 x 1.5in, 2020