Madeline Cass | María Fragoso
ARTISTS TO WATCH (a2w)
Each month we invite a member of the She Performs community to share their Artists to Watch - a personal selection of artists whose work has caught their attention. This month’s a2w - Madeline Cass and María Fragoso - have been chosen by Madeline Ehrlich.
Madeline Cass
joshua trees are not actually trees
giant flowers in the agave family
yucca moths copulate with blooms
both are white and ephemeral
datura takes off her clothes in the road, eat her and sin
pay attention to what grows in the ditches
truth or consequences, an intersection
bush holds signs from god on highway 62
(he likes LSD but doesn’t drink anymore)
are we having fun yet?
dreams told me to listen to aliens,
cosmic stirring to become light
full moon rising on a mountainside of quartz
i mail opalescent rocks to
all of my lovers / sucked on them for hours
hot bodies on soft rocks - holding solar warmth
a bolder at the end of the day / vibrational mass
I am clean because I’ve sat out in the sun
sleeping through earthquakes
the hungry smell of a monsoon
observing petroglyphs observing me
i am a dead thing picked clean
Growing up in a major monoculture state, Cass’ worldview has formed by seeking overlooked wildness that exists around us and how people can connect to these spaces. Her work examines the multitude of relationships between art, science, nature, and humanity. Acting as a translator for nature, her practice is formed by sauntering and examining the landscape intimately, fostering dialogue and empathy. Through interacting with her local habitat in unexpected ways and inviting others to join, she offers alternative pathways into environmental consciousness and ecological thinking.
Madeline Cass (b. 1993) earned a BFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Photography from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2017. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at the Fotobok Festival Oslo. Her book, how lonely, to be a marsh, has been collected by The Museum of Modern Art Library, The National Gallery of Art Library, The Getty Research Institute Library, and The Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Hirsch Library. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic and The Sun Magazine, among others.
Photos: Courtesy of the artist
María Fragoso
Fragoso's paintings depict many aspects of the myriad of coexisting identities in Mexico; celebrating Mexican culture, while also trying to offer a critical look into Mexico’s conception of gender, sexuality, human relations and national belonging. Drawing upon the rich history of Mexican Surrealists, Fragoso’s work carves out a place for itself as a contemporary counterpart to these artists through her use of color and symbolist language.
María Fragoso (b. 1995, Mexico City) lives and works in Mexico City. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College Art (MICA) in Baltimore. Her residences include Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yale Norfolk School of Art, Vermont Studio Center Fellowship and Palazzo Monti. She attended the Studio Arts College International (SACI) study abroad program in Florence, Italy. Fragoso is represented by 1969 Gallery, New York, where she made her debut in Routine Malfunction, curated by Coady Brown and Pat Phillips. Other recent exhibitions include A Very Anxious Feeling: Voices of Unrest in the American Experience (20 Years of the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection), Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA; Second Smile, The Hole, NY; New__on the block, Machete, Mexico City; and No Place Like, Field Projects, NY. She was recently nominated for the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Art & Style.
EDITORS’ NOTE: Forbes has since named María one of their 2021 30 Under 30 in Art & Style, and ARTSY.NET identified her as one of ‘five emerging and noteworthy artists’ in their recent feature, 5 Artists to Follow if You Like Frida Kahlo. Congratulations María!
Madeline Ehrlich is the Associate Director at 1969 Gallery in New York City, a gallery that specializes in contemporary emerging art. She previously worked with the nonprofit Project: ARTspace, wrote as a contributor for Greenpointers and interviewed artists such as Louis Fratino, Danielle Orchard, and Hein Koh. She holds a Bachelor of Science and continues to work in both art and women's health as a doula birthworker.
