Opening Reception For Artist William Cardova

Join the Moody to celebrate the latest installation in our Off the Wall series by artist william cordova, titled 2800 dowling-wasi-sangarara. The reception is open to the public and complimentary drinks and bites will be provided. Off the Wall at the Brochstein Pavilion is a partnership between the Moody Center for the Arts and the Core Residency Program at the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The series commissions Core residency program alumni to create a site-specific installation for this space that will be on view for one year. About the artwork: 2800 dowling-wasi-sangarara is rooted in cosmogony, the scientific study of the origin of the universe and fractal structures that convey repeating geometric shapes at various scales. These repeating patterns echo structures in nature, the human body, or rituals. cordova used photographic documents of historical landmark locations, one in Houston and the other one in Cuzco, Peru, as a starting point to encode and highlight how architecture, geography, and social systems are constructed and preserved through abstraction while producing visual scenarios. The photographs were altered through material intervention to challenge and provoke the viewer to form an independent conclusion. The overall composition relates to “the reunion of broken parts” (al-jabr), a mathematical concept that also laid the ground for algebra, and is used by cordova as a tool for algorithmic storytelling. Despite the visual cacophony of forms and color, the piece invites the viewer to meditate and reflect. About the artist: william cordova is an interdisciplinary cultural practitioner interested in the roots of abstraction, the history of textile encoding, and non-linear narratives. He illuminates the synthesis of memory, ritual, and mythology to further disrupt, challenge and reassess definitions of our collective landscape. His site-specific installation work is both expansive and intimate. Intersecting the economy of materials with ephemeral and spatial rhythms, he juxtaposes social-political theories and strategies taken from Third Cinema, a Latin American film movement that used fragmentation, close-up shots, and open-endedness, thus highlighting alternate visual aesthetics. Learn more at moody.rice.edu More Info below.