The essence of dirt through art – Knight Foundation
Arts

The essence of dirt through art

The basis for the exhibition “Dirt.”

An intriguing group show with an interesting combination of artists will open up for tomorrow’s Second Saturday in a temporary space in the Design District, called “Dirt Yuta Suelo Udongo Te.” It’s curated by Onajide Shabaka, who has been working with a variety of materials and subject matter for years, too often under the radar.

Here, he has asked artists to work with dirt – both its physical properties and its social implications (who is dirty, what is polluted?). Dirt also suggests both the foundation and the end of structures, and of life.

The idea stemmed from Shabaka’s trips to an old mine in northern Minnesota, from where he started shipping the distinctive red oxide dirt he found there back to Miami, in order to incorporate it into his work.

An end result of dirt

An end result of dirt.

The artists for this exhibit sometimes worked with dirt as well, while others took a less literal route when addressing the earth around and below us.

So for instance, William Cordova and Robert Chambers have mixed media pieces, Edouard Duval Carrié chose painting, Lori Nozick makes organic sculpture and David Rohn focuses on photography and performance. There are 13 artists all together.

According to Shabaka, “It’s hard to define ‘dirt,’ since it represents the dissolution of everything else, the final stop, the end of entropy, the common conclusion of the thousand natural shocks that the flesh is heir to.”

Like the art represented here, he says, “Our relationship to dirt is entirely mixed.”

“Dirt Yuta Suelo Udongo Te” runs through June 28, 3815 N.E. Miami Ct., Design District; open certain days and by appointment, [email protected]; www.Miamiartexchange.com.