WaveMaker Grantee: A.G
Written by A.G and Locust Projects
Interview with the Artist
Cycle 5 WaveMaker grantee, A.G. (a.k.a Alan Gutierrez) introduces us to his Untitled (forms from MEDIAPRO HD ULTIMATE F/X 18 COLOR MAKEUP PALETTE)—Miami’s first public LGBTQ sculpture —dedicated in March 2017 by the City of North Miami to the heroes of South Florida’s LGBTQ community installed in the Enchanted Forest Elaine Gordon Park. A.G’s WaveMaker grant project was intended to be a celebratory public event in 2020 featuring time-based queer expressions which took a turn due to COVID-19.
“The power of queerness lies not only in the potential to learn, but the ability to teach, how to access the tools, modalities, and states of mind needed to assimilate new progressive and fluid identities within an uncharted spectrum, while expanding the current rigid definitions of what it means to love — both ourselves and others” - A.G.
Tell us more about your Cycle 5 WaveMaker project:
As we're all aware in light of the pandemic, we had to reassess how we produce cultural events—and mine was no exception. Essentially, my project was intended to be a celebratory gathering with a focus on the permanent public sculpture that I created, Untitled (forms from MEDIAPRO HD ULTIMATE F/X 18 COLOR MAKEUP PALETTE), in the Enchanted Forest Elaine Gordon Park.
Since we could no longer physically gather around the sculpture site, I had to download Zoom and figure out how to use it, to create and organize an online event titled MEDIAPRO HD ULTIMATE F/X, an evening of activations gathered virtually around Miami’s first & only permanent public sculpture dedicated to our LGBTQ+ community.
The online event was an amazing night of performances, toasts, and most importantly, seeing friendly faces for the first time in months! The evening featured performances, videos, DJ sets, and more from Niña, Queef Latina, Midnight Thrift, Human Numan, Misael Soto, German Caceres, Poncili Creacion, and Cara Despain.
It was a very interesting experience and learning process—and the most meaningful conversations I had was with Liz Ferrer, from the queer femme reggaeton music group Niña (along with BowTie). We spoke at length about the new priorities in producing events and the shifting psychology of entertainment- working with a live in-house audience is one thing, but we agree that this format requires a whole new set of techniques.
Organizing all the participants wasn't very different from how it would of normally been—I think what a lot of people don't realize is that artistic practices and cultural production is normally operated from home, so this new "quarantine-lifestyle" is not terribly dissimilar from an artist's daily routine. Certainly the outcome is what is most affected- but at least the excitement and anticipation was still there!
The original sentiment for this project was to bring light to the existence of this sculpture, and not only did we do that, but we also had a great opportunity to catch up with many friends, peers, and new audience members whom we haven't seen in months, and some we met for the first time!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A.G (B. 1986, Miami) is an artist living and working in Miami, Florida. After graduating from the New World School of the Arts, he received his BFA in Sculpture and Art History from the University of Florida (2009). He has exhibited nationally and internationally, with recent and upcoming shows in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami and Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include INTRO at Artist Curated Projects in Los Angeles (2017), Don't tell someone that you like how they are doing something because they may stop to thank you at Regina Rex in New York City (2016) and Nobody knows me better than you at Locust Projects in Miami, Florida (2014). He has also been included in several group exhibitions, including The Coffins of Paa Joe and The Pursuit of Happiness at Jack Shainman Gallery, NY and An Image at Oolite Art in Miami Beach, Florida.
A.G received a Cycle 5 WaveMaker Grant in 2019. Since 2015, WaveMaker Grants have awarded $399,000 in grants to 77 Miami’s most visionary artists, collectives, and curators.
WaveMaker Grants at Locust Projects is made possible by support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and is part of the Warhol Foundation's Regional Regranting Program. Part of a national network of Warhol-initiated regranting programs, WaveMaker Grants is the first in the southeast. For more information about the Warhol Foundation's Regional Regranting Program, please click here.