{"id":86,"date":"2024-04-26T11:27:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T11:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/2024\/04\/26\/jorge-manes-rubio-new-prophets\/"},"modified":"2024-04-26T11:27:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T11:27:05","slug":"jorge-manes-rubio-new-prophets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/2024\/04\/26\/jorge-manes-rubio-new-prophets\/","title":{"rendered":"In His World-Building Series \u2018New Prophets,\u2019 Jorge Ma\u00f1es Rubio Cloaks Basketballs in Beads"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cEVERYTHING SPIRITS\u201d (2023), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter. All images \u00a9 Jorge Ma\u00f1es Rubio, courtesy of the artist and Rademakers Gallery, shared with permission<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Beginning with an iconic yet common spherical form, Jorge Ma\u00f1es Rubio<\/a> reimagines basketballs as powerful entities in his series New Prophets. <\/em>Ornamented with stylized creatures, botanicals, and figures, each sculpture tells its own enigmatic story, drawing on the inextricable link between past and present. \u201cThese works, although familiar in visual language, seem to come from a dream-like dimension,\u201d the artist tells Colossal, \u201cas if offering a chance at re-enchanting the world we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Prophets\u00a0<\/em>began with a fascination with an 8th-century Spanish illuminated manuscript called the Commentary on the Apocalypse<\/a><\/em> that\u2019s decorated in a Mozarabic<\/a> style,\u00a0which originated in Spain and represents a blend of Romanesque, Islamic, and Byzantine traditions. Rubio, who is currently based in Amsterdam, is fascinated by cultural exchange throughout history. He says:<\/p>\n

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My artistic practice operates on a similar way: I\u2019m claiming a space where I can continue to learn from a crucible of the most diverse influences, while at the same time carving my own distinctive path. I want to continue to explore cross-cultural themes and symbols that reflect and honour the extensive circulation of ideas, works, and people that came before us.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

World-building is central to Rubio\u2019s practice, and initially, he considered another spherical shape for this series as a literal representation of the world: a globe. \u201cThe colonial and imperial connotations of this artifact really discouraged me,\u201d he says, but when by chance he placed a string of beads on a basketball that was kicking around his studio, the idea for New Prophets\u00a0<\/em>clicked.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSACRED AGAIN\u201d (2023), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rubio coats the balls with plaster and gesso\u2014ensuring it doesn\u2019t deflate\u2014criss-crosses the form along its distinctive lines, and adds vibrant flowers, stylized text, medieval motifs, and mythical creatures. The orbs play with the idea of an object designed to be bounced and thrown around, instead coating it with delicate patterns and displaying it like a sacred relic.<\/p>\n

In his alternative worlds, Rubio is interested in visualizing how past, present, and future can unfold simultaneously. \u201cMy hope is that my works invite people to rethink our relationship with the universe and all the beings that live in it \u2014human, nonhuman, material, or spiritual\u2014 suggesting alternatives to established systems of representation, power and exploitation,\u201d he says. \u201cI believe this more animistic perspective has the potential to provide a more generous, humbling attitude to make sense of the world we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio is currently working toward a couple of show in 2025 and continuing New Prophets. <\/em>Find more on the artist\u2019s website<\/a>, and stay up to date on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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a four-up image of different views of a teal glass bead-coated spherical sculpture made from a basketball depicting the words \"sacred\" and \"again\" and various flowers and lizards<\/p>\n

Views of \u201cSACRED AGAIN\u201d (2023)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cLIQUID DREAMS\u201d (2024), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cPURPOSE POTENTIAL\u201d (2023), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

a four-up image of different views of a teal glass bead-coated spherical sculpture made from a basketball depicting the words \"potential\" and \"purpose\" and a fire-breathing snake<\/p>\n

Views of \u201cPURPOSE POTENTIAL\u201d (2023)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Detail of \u201cPURPOSE POTENTIAL\u201d (2023)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cMAGICAL THINKING\u201d (2024), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

a four-up image of different views of a white glass bead-coated spherical sculpture made from a basketball depicting the words \"everything\" and \"spirits\" and a Celtic knot<\/p>\n

Views of \u201cMAGICAL THINKING\u201d (2024)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cEVER LASTING\u201d (2024), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cEVER LASTING\u201d (2024)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In His World-Building Series \u2018New Prophets,\u2019 Jorge Ma\u00f1es Rubio Cloaks Basketballs in Beads<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEVERYTHING SPIRITS\u201d (2023), basketball, plaster, gesso, glass beads, 25 centimeters diameter. All images \u00a9 Jorge Ma\u00f1es Rubio, courtesy of the artist and Rademakers Gallery, shared with permission Beginning with an iconic yet common spherical form, Jorge Ma\u00f1es Rubio reimagines basketballs as powerful entities in his series New Prophets. Ornamented with stylized creatures, botanicals, and figures, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,214,215,216,217,212,218],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/sawberries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}