BERKELEY, CALIF.- This summer, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive will unveil a large-scale site-specific mural commissioned from the Bay Area artist Marcel Pardo Ariza. Art Wall / Marcel Pardo Ariza: Las Frutas del Laborcelebrates the often-overlooked contributions of professional art handlers, whose labor is vital to sustaining cultural spaces. On view for nearly a full year, the mural was created specifically for BAMPFA’s sixty-three-by-thirty-foot Art Wall, visible from the street, that welcomes visitors to the museum and has become one of BAMPFA’s signature commissioning platforms.
Born in Bogotá, Colombia and currently based in Oakland, Ariza is the co-founder, with Ambrose Trataris, of Arthandlxrs*, an award-winning organization dedicated to supporting marginalized communities within the art handling profession. Their work as an artist explores queer and trans identity through photographic installations and collaborative projects, which celebrate intergenerational kinship and community resilience. Ariza’s commission transforms BAMPFA’s Art Wall into a vibrant celebration of the essential part that art handlers play in museums and collection care. Las Frutas del Labor incorporates a collage of images Ariza photographed of the tools and hands of BAMPFA art handlers, after they were taken out for manicures and a day of relaxation. Larger than life, and in vivid color, the Art Wall focuses on the tools and materials of the art handling trade and the hands of the skilled art professionals that wield them, all of which have contributed to countless installations at the museum. Thus, the same hands and tools that inspired the work are involved in its realization, spotlighting the labor, precision, and expertise that brings all exhibitions at the museum to life.
BAMPFA will host multiple public programs in conjunction with Art Wall / Marcel Pardo Ariza: Las Frutas del Labor, beginning with an Artist’s Talk and Conversation with Ariza on Saturday, September 19. The conversation will be moderated by BAMPFA’s Chief Curator Margot Norton, who curated Ariza’s Art Wall commission. Ariza will return to the museum on Saturday, April 24 to host a drag performance at 5 PM inspired by the theme of art handling. This exhibition is part of The Further Triennial, and the drag performance will be presented as part of the Triennial’s full-day spotlight on Richmond and Berkeley arts institutions; for more information about Further, visit furthertriennial.org.
“BAMPFA’s Art Wall is the first artwork you see when you enter our museum, visible from the street, and is a site for public programs, performances, hands-on educational workshops, and countless informal gatherings,” said Norton. “It is truly exciting to welcome all who enter our museum with Ariza’s striking, large-scale love letter to art handlers, and the care, ingenuity, and vital contributions they bring to museum work.”
“There are so many talented people who bring our exhibitions to life, especially our art handlers and preparators,” said BAMPFA’s Executive Director Julie Rodrigues Widholm. “I am thrilled that BAMPFA will celebrate their creativity, dedication and skill in Ariza’s Art Wall commission for the next year.”
Marcel Pardo Ariza is a trans nonbinary visual artist, curator, and cultural worker. Their work explores intergenerational kinship and queerness through photographs and site-specific installations. Through staging and collaboration, Ariza assembles sets as sites of possibility—where stories can be (re)built and alternative present and future narratives can be realized. Ariza engages post-camera f aesthetic concerns, pushing back against the often rigid constraints predetermined by photographic conventions. With playful curiosity, they approach the history and materiality of photography as fluid and in constant need of deconstruction. Ariza’s practice is invested in creating long-term interdisciplinary collaborations and opportunities that are non-hierarchical and equitable.
Ariza (b. 1991, Bogotá, Colombia) received their MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and is the recipient of various awards including a 2022 SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art) Art Award; 2020 San Francisco Artadia Award; 2018-2019 Alternative Exposure Award; 2017 Tosa Studio Award; and a 2015 Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Award. Their work has been exhibited at venues including the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR; Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Springs, CA; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFMOMA, KADIST, Southern Exposure, SOMArts, San José Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries, CULT exhibitions, and the Luggage Store Gallery all located in the San Francisco Bay Area; and OCHI in Los Angeles, CA. They have been a visiting artist at various institutions including CCA, SFAI, Stanford, UCSF, Harvard University, California State University Monterey Bay, San José State University, Mills College, UC Berkeley, and the San José Museum of Art. Ariza currently lives and works in Oakland, CA where they co-founded Art Handlxrs*, a group dedicated to the support and growth of BIPOC, queer, non-binary, and trans people, and women in the professional arts industry as preparators, art handlers, technicians, fabricators, and other industry support roles. They are a member of Minnesota Project Studios and the Emeryville Artists Coop.
