Joey Enríquez: ruined on a riverbank
About
Hamiltonian Artists is pleased to present Joey Enríquez's solo show ruined on a riverbank, a site-specific installation comprising sculptural brick arrangements, raw-earth paintings, and topographical histories of DC. The artist uses bricks to convey the fragments of history that piece together contemporary realities, such as gentrification, access, displacement, and geographic infrastructure. Their practice of running along the Potomac River corridor in DC and collecting derelict bricks confronts ideas of labor and migration. Enríquez explains, "I construct objects, half-architecture–half-ruin, using these neglected building blocks that entrap trash, detritus, urban material, and our own context, to frame and attempt to reconcile histories of those that have lived and worked in the District for decades." Historic remnants become recycled back into construction material.
The exhibition includes three site-specific sculptures made from found bricks and other discarded materials once belonging to long-forgotten domestic and commercial structures; paintings made using materials sourced from the earth such as mud, silt, and dust; brick casts made of plaster; and reproductions of archival technical drawings of DC neighborhoods annotated by the artist to reference what once was and now is.
About the artist
Based in Washington, DC, Joey Enríquez makes sculptural work and printmaking. Originally a graphic designer from Southern California, they transitioned from design to art in 2017 to explore a more interdisciplinary creative practice. Their most recent work consists of clay monotype prints that appropriate imagery and text from their grandmother's photo albums along with clay and soil prints made while running and biking along the Potomac River; they unearth family narratives of memory loss and location as well as reveal sites of entropy and inadvertent human encroachment in open spaces. Their other work consists of sculpture and digital renderings about location, movement through space, and passage of time.
Enríquez earned their BA in Art–Design from California Lutheran University in 2018 and their MFA. in Fine Arts at George Washington University in 2020. They are currently a Fellow with Hamiltonian Artists in the 2020–2022 cohort and were awarded a residency through The Studios at MASS MOCA in November 2021. Enríquez is also an adjunct professor at George Washington University, American University, George Mason University, and Carroll Community College.
Visit
April 2–May 7, 2022
Tuesday–Saturday, 11–6pm
Hamiltonian Artists
1353 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
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Programs
Opening reception
Saturday, April 2, 4–7pm
Artist talk
Thursday, April 21, 6pm
Info