WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files)

September 13, 2022close
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Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.<1 of 6>
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.<2 of 6>
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.<3 of 6>
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.<4 of 6>
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.<5 of 6>
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.<6 of 6>
location
Black Cube Headquarters, 2925 S Umatilla St, Fl 2, Englewood, CO, 80110

On View: October 7, 2022 - February 10, 2023

Visitor Hours: Open by appointment, Thursday - Friday, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Schedule a visit here →

Free + open to the public

WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files) is curated by Cortney Lane Stell, Executive Director + Chief Curator of Black Cube.

WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files)

WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files)

Anuar Maauad

Black Cube is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of work by Mexican artist Anuar Maauad titled WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files). The exhibition marks the reopening of Black Cube’s Headquarters, which last had an exhibition on view to the public in January of 2020. The large-scale works by 2019 Black Cube Artist Fellow, Anuar Maauad, were originated in a workshop with Denver residents in March of 2022. This will be the first time that works from the series are exhibited to the public.

Seeking to share profound insights into the human body and the three-dimensional self-image, Maauad has built a vast archive of over 7,000 sculptural self-portraits created by participants in workshops he’s led over the past thirteen years. Maauad’s sculptures in WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files) feature a selection of these expressive, handmade clay self-images replicated at large-scale using 3D-printing. Beginning in 2009 as a collaboration in Mexico with the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey to engage children in underprivileged communities, the workshops have since expanded to include participants of diverse ages and backgrounds.

In collaboration with Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum, Maauad has undertaken a vast collaborative new part of this series that involved working with the Denver community. In March of 2022, Black Cube hosted a workshop with the artist. In the workshop Denverites were instructed by the artist to create small, impromptu interpretations of their bodies. Maauad then worked with a selection of the works to reproduce them as monumental 3D prints.

“Together, the works in Maauad’s exhibition explore the collective unconscious mind of humans, depicting a rich range of reflections on the relationship to our bodies, broader trends of self-representation, and the dissolution of the real as seen through concepts of replication, ownership, and participation. Ultimately, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files) examines sculpture’s relation to social experience through an interplay between action and reaction.” – Cortney Lane Stell, curator

About the Artist
Anuar Maauad (b. 1984) lives and works in Mexico City. As a 2019 Black Cube Artist Fellow Maauad produced SHARE, a series of 100 small-scale, bronze, artworks that were gifts to 100 Denver locations. His recent work examines the relationship between political identity and social memory, and the subject of the perceptive experience. He received his BS in Architecture from the Universidad de Las Américas, Puebla, and a BFA from La Esmeralda (Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado), Mexico City. In 2010, he founded Casa Maauad, the artist-run residency program in Mexico City. Maauad has shown his own sculpture-based works in a number of exhibitions including Efrain Lopez Gallery, Chicago, IL, Polyforum Siqueiros, Ciudad de México, México, Museo De Arte Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, Galería Emma Molina, Monterrey, México, and Casa Maauad, Ciudad de México, México. His work can be found in significant collections, including the Jumex Foundation in Mexico, the Costantini Collection in Argentina, as well as the Denver Art Museum in Colorado. Maauad is represented by Gavlak Gallery.

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WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files) is organized by Black Cube as part of its Special Projects program, which aims to foster new forms of expression, provide novel opportunities for artists, and advance forward-thinking exhibition experiences outside of the white cube.

Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.
Anuar Maauad, WE ARE BODIES (The Archaeology Files), 2022. Black Cube Headquarters, Colorado. Courtesy the artist and Black Cube. Photo: Third Dune Productions.