February 2020
Pictured left to right: Mano Penalva, Rachel Mica Weiss and Haley Josephs.
Since its inception, the Fountainhead has believed that artists can have a profound impact on one another’s practice. Reasoning that being in contact with artists change their lives so substantially, the Mikesells decided to take on a radical experiment: Why not find out what happens when three artists - who not only don’t know each other but additionally hail from different parts of the world - are chosen to live in a house together for a month? Over the years, the results have been pretty stellar, as artist after artist joins the Fountainhead family and literally becomes a lifelong extension of its family. The bonds they forge with each other are similarly powerful; inspiring one another to move into the next phase of their practice, learn a new skill set, or simply encouraging the way they communicate their practice, the Fountainhead has proven to strengthen artists in more ways than one.
February’s Fountainhead artists were utterly connected in this way. Haley Josephs, Mano Penalva and Rachel Mica Weiss each came to the residency with very different intentions and goals, and found that they were met in starkly profound ways. “I knew [Fountainhead] was focused on building connections and meeting a lot of different people,” says Weiss. “But even aside from that, I think we really just have a great group dynamic; three is such a special number. I think being an artist is so solitary and residencies that provide more space for solitude don’t necessarily provide a change of scenery and environment.”
Josephs, who before arriving to the residency was riddled with anxiety over her upcoming exhibition in New York, decided to embark on two entirely new concepts within her practice. She credits her residency mates for the courage to move in that direction. “It’s been so special to be with Rachel and Mano, because I feel like I was about to try all these new things and i couldn’t have done it by myself or in my home studio,” she says. “It’s been a blessing to have them there, with Mano being so encouraging and Rachel helping me to break free, too.”
Penalva, in turn, really capitalized on the opportunity to learn from Josephs and Weiss about the way the North American art market functions. “The U.S. nowadays has determined a lot of rules about the worth of art. Being here felt like understanding and taking part in this system” he says. “It was great to have those insights not just from Kathryn, but from my colleagues Rachel and Haley.”
Haley Josephs
Nostalgia is a bit like addiction. The pain doesn’t preclude the rush that longing brings - you might crave nostalgic moments despite the realization that the feeling can often hurt. Haley Josephs emphatically brings that divergence forth in her work. Inspired by the loss of her sister while she was being carried in her mother’s womb, Josephs alludes to the bittersweet memory of a lost childhood in her work. A longing for the effortless whimsy of youth is honored through large scale paintings, collages, and photographs, drawn in bubble gum pinks and bright candy blues. Childlike figures are portrayed in otherworldly form, like they’ve ascended into a garden of delights that only a child’s imagination could access. Naturally, these scenes often conjure the divide of life and death, says the artist.
“The work certainly interchanges between life and death, otherworld and reality, and the characters are a stand-in figure for me and my sister,” she says. “She’s a recurring character and she embodies the dream world. I never met her, but I feel like she walks with me.”
Preparing for a solo show at Jack Barrett, Josephs capitalized on her time at the Fountainhead by stepping outside her comfort zone and into new directions in her practice. Working on sculpture and drawings - new mediums she will show for the first time - Josephs was thrilled to have her residency mate’s support along for the ride. “Rachel and Mano encouraged me to try new things, and even taught me how to use certain tools and techniques,” she says.
Mano Penalva
Mano Penalva might fashion himself a visual anthropologist, who collects and then dissects societal clues into genre-defying artworks. These artworks often offer a window into daily life in a destination of choice; he considers how images are co-opted and commercialized, and infiltrate an aesthetic canon. He’s particularly interested in the tropicalization of the world, which he explores not through the gaze of fetishization, but through the notion that the world is undergoing a mass climate transformation.
His practice excavates various materials and found objects that cross the boundaries of culture. Penalva is interested in how certain items - like multicolored beach chairs, peanuts, or flags can carry the same meaning despite their geographic context. “I think these pieces don’t need visas or passports to travel to cross boundaries,” he says. “I talk alot about the idea of “mining” the artwork, so everyone can try and discover the newest or best or most valued version for themselves.”
Penalva, who says he feels like the Brazilian art world is world’s apart from its North American counterpart, found the active pace of The Fountainhead to be incredibly beneficial. “Sometimes in the art world, I feel like people keep their contacts for themselves, and here I felt like everyone is willing to share and believes in the sharing,” he says. “Kathryn really brings an expertise in establishing connections.”
Rachel Mica Weiss
Rachel Mica Weiss’s work is a profound exercise in patience and a metaphor for the material limitations of our existence. Trained primarily as a weaver, Weiss does not shy away from the painstaking, methodical approach her monumental works require. Whether sculpture, installation or 2D hanging, Weiss brings a measured approach to her practice, which considers spatial dimensions and relies heavily on mathematical precision to be realized. Some of her most meticulous work includes her topographies series, which studies the topographical surfaces of mountain ranges, carefully studying their topographical maps and converting those measurements into ‘warps.’ Later, she cuts synthetic fibers down to the lengths she has identified, creating a three-dimensional tapestry that consider their increasing fragility. Other works, languishing pieces of stone resting on astronomical boulders, consider the limitations of our ability to will things into existence.
“I see these as bodies struggling against their own material limitations,” she says. “They are made out of incredibly rigid material but are in between fluid and dead, alive and stable. It turns the body itself into a boundary, or like a portal almost. It’s not an accident that the structure they’re on is the same size as a body or coffin.”
Weiss was particularly drawn to the Fountainhead as she sits at an inflection point in her career. “I feel like I’m at this turning point because I’m not currently with a gallery, and for me the residency has been a time for re-assessing my personal values and career and artistic aims,” she says. “It helps tremendously that both my residency mates were very dedicated to their work and uncompromising in their vision.”
Images courtesy of Alex Nuñez
Words by Nicole Martinez