Artists Archive
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rise x fall is an in-progress multimedia collaboration between rubén garcía marrufo, maximiliano, and Jaleesa Johnston. Conjured from liminal space, this work considers the rise and fall of an empire, and the possibilities between stability and instability. Taking inspiration from the ocean’s crashing waves against the earth, rise x fall simultaneously inhabits the space between the pain and fear of death, as well as the hope and growth of rebirth.
ARTISTS' BIOS
mononymously named, maximiliano, is a conceptual artist working in BLKwvv, a generative multimedia mythos: a Black reclamation rococo aesthetic and agenda based in exploring and expanding the multiplicity and fluidity of the Black self through pleasure, desirability, innocence, and imagination as performance, video, GIF, sculpture, thought, and publications.
rubén garcía marrufo is a border artist.
https://rubengarciamarrufo.com/
Jaleesa Johnston is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and arts administrator currently living and working in the Pacific Northwest. She holds a BA from Vassar College and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has been the recipient of the AICAD Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Centrum’s Emerging Artist Residency, and Open Signal’s New Media Fellowship. She has exhibited her work in cities along the West Coast, including San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, and she occasionally facilitates workshops and classes in new media and performance art. Jaleesa also organizes public programs as Programs Lead in the Learning and Community Partnerships Department at the Portland Art Museum.
Learn moreBorn in Harlem in 1986 to Dominican-Ecuadorian parents, Venus X grew up in Washington Heights and has recently made a name for herself in NYC’s underground music and art scene. She’s been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Vibe, ArtForum, Modern Painters, V Magazine, and Fader for her multi-faceted sounds. She performed at various New York Fashion Week after-parties and composed soundtracks for runway shows (earning the title of “Fashion Week’s Most Extreme DJ” from Rolling Stone for her Gerlan Jeans set), scored a performance by K8 Hardy for the Whitney Biennial, and has performed various times at MoMA, the New Museum, and other similar institutions. She has toured with Gang Gang Dance and Theophilus London, starred in music videos for A$AP Rocky, and worked as a researcher and consultant for Shakira.
Selected Press
Venus X: I don't like pretending to be stupid,
Sampling Rap, Salsa, and Al Jazeera, Alex Hawgood, The New York Times, April 18, 2012.
The X Factor: Meet Venus, Fashion Week's Most Extreme DJ, Colleen Nika, Rolling Stone, September 19, 2011.
Learn more