Bosco Sodi: Básico

January 14 – March 5, 2022
USF Contemporary Art Museum

Regular Hours: Monday-Friday 10am-5pm, Thursday 10am-8pm, Saturday 1-4pm, Closed Sundays and University Holidays (January 17th). Special Hours: January 14, 7-9pm

 

Bosco Sodi: Básico brings together Bosco Sodi’s various sources of artistic inspiration as examples of sustainable art making. The exhibition includes a powerful group of paintings titled “Vers l’Espagne”, whose rough surfaces recall creek beds and the footpaths trod by Mexican and Central American immigrants on their way north, as well two new series Sodi made in Mexico in 2020 during pandemic lockdown: large spherical clay sculptures he has called “perfect bodies” and a series of “Sun Paintings” on chili pepper sacks, both fashioned with materials that were readily available at his studio in Oaxaca, Mexico. Also included in the exhibition are small clay sculptures made by local children, the hands-on output of a community art program developed by Sodi’s Casa Wabi Foundation, the non-profit art and community-education complex the artist founded eight years ago on Mexico’s Oaxacan Coast. Among the messages of the exhibition: challenging times demand a return to what is Básico—art, community, and education. 

As part of the exhibition, CAM will present the community-engaged project, Bosco Sodi: Tabula Rasa (Tampa). Inspired by Earth’s universal cycles of growth, Tabula Rasa, Latin for “clean slate,” symbolizes new beginnings. First installed on May 23, 2021, in New York City’s Washington Square Park, the Tampa iteration of Sodi’s public artwork will engage the community in the collaborative and creative process of hand-making hundreds of clay seedpods and embedding them with heirloom corn seeds. During a participatory event on February 12, the public will be invited to claim their seedpods to plant, nurture, and harvest; thus highlighting indigenous Mexican agricultural practices and their potential impact on food cultivation and sustainability in the United States. Engaging public participation and the power of creative transformation, the project offers what Sodi considers vessels for new life as a gesture of mutual assistance and opportunity for individual and collective growth. 

Bosco Sodi: Básico is curated by Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator-at-Large; organized by the USF Contemporary Art Museum. Básico is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and supported by the Lee & Victor Leavengood Endowment and the ACE (Art for Community Engagement) Fund Patrons. Tabula Rasa (Tampa) is supported by the Gobioff Foundation and the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, and is presented in partnership with Meacham Urban Farm and USF student organization CAM Club.

 

Downloads

Press Release pdf

Exhibition Checklist pdf

Curatorial Essays pdf 

 

PRESS

Bosco Sodi Interview on WMNF - 01/28/2022 - Bosco Sodi & Sarah Howard from USFCAM with BÁSICO on Art in Your Ear - By JoEllen Schilke, WMNF Radio
Listen Now (interview starts at 9:00) >

Bosco Sodi Tabula Rasa on Patch - 01/26/2022 - USF Art Exhibit Gives Residents Chance To Make Clay Seedpods - By D'Ann Lawrence White, Patch
Read More >

 

PRINTED EXHIBITION WORKBOOK

 

VIRTUAL TOUR

 

GALLERY TALK VIDEO

 

INSTALLATION VIEWS

 

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ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Bosco Sodi is known for his use of raw, natural materials to create large-scale textured paintings and objects. Sodi has discovered an emotive power within the essential simplicity of his materials and the vivid pigments he sources. Sodi has described his creative process as a “controlled chaos” that makes “something that is completely un-repeatable.” Focusing on material exploration, the creative gesture, and the spiritual connection between the artist and his work, Sodi seeks to transcend conceptual barriers. In the past few years, Sodi has turned more to sculpture and the traditions of his Mexican heritage. At his studio in Oaxaca, he extracts raw earth from the ground and combines it with water and sand to form clay. He uses this elemental material, one of ancestral significance, to create minimalist sculptures. 

Bosco Sodi has exhibited his work internationally and throughout the United States. In September 2021, the artist opened a major sculpture show at the Dallas Museum of Art, and completed his second public installation, Tabula Rasa, at Manhattan’s Washington Square Park. Notable institutional outings include exhibitions at the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City (2017), The Noguchi Museum, New York (2015); and the Bronx Museum, New York (2010). His work is in significant public and private collections worldwide including JUMEX Collection, México; Contemporary Art Foundation, Japan; Harvard Art Museum, Massachusetts; Nasher Sculpture Center, Texas; The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.; Walker Art Center, Minnesota; Wadsworth Athaneum Museum of Art, Connecticut; New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana; and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California.  

 

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Bosco Sodi: Básico is curated by Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator-at-Large; organized by the USF Contemporary Art Museum. Básico is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and supported by the Lee & Victor Leavengood Endowment and the ACE (Art for Community Engagement) Fund Patrons. Tabula Rasa (Tampa) is supported by the Gobioff Foundation and the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, and is presented in partnership with Meacham Urban Farm and USF student organization CAM Club.