MARCELA & GINA: JUMPING ARRACHERAS!

January 20 – February 23, 2006
Opening recpetion, Friday January 20th, 7 -10 pm
Guest curated by Aldo Sanchez

"We are not a product of a lack of affection, but rather a vocation of all things miserable."
- Marcela & Gina

Queen’s Nails Annex is pleased to present the first in a series of exhibitions dedicated to emerging curators. This current project is curated by Aldo Sanchez and presents the first solo exhibition in the United States by Mexican artists marcela&gina.

The artwork of marcela&gina addresses cultural conventions (politics, social and artistic) by using action/performative strategies. Twisting clichés to the extreme they transform mundane situations and objects into the absurd, where the result is sometimes dangerous. Together marcela&gina have performed illegal acts, such as trafficking fake guns through international airports, generating false identification cards and bribing Mexican policeman. Working together since 1997 marcela&gina have combined both a performative and conceptually driven practice using their bodies as essential material for executing their work.

JUMPING ARRACHERAS!features photographs, video, public interventions and a live action/installation. This exhibition will include; Ecko, Don’t talk to me when I am in the kitchen! This work addresses issues of domesticity while playing with the idea of special safety (how close will the viewer go?) Using 5 pressure cookers filled with colored water each boiling until they eventually explode and excrete their contents onto the gallery walls. We would like to answer a few questions (Queen's Nails) is an intervention/collaboration with the Nail Salon next to the gallery. Participants will be able to get their nails stylized during the opening with a special decoration designed by the artists. As part of this project, a video will be on display in the Salon and the customers will be able to view Aficionados, a video work created during a live talent show on Mexican television.

marcela&gina have exhibited at the Mexican Cultural Institute of Paris, Art Basel, Miami, X Teresa, Mexico City; Museo de La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia and San Diego Museum of Art.

This exhibition was made with the generous support of The National Fund for Culture and Arts, FONCA; National Council for Culture and Art, CONACULTA; Council for Culture and Arts of Nuevo Leon, CONARTE; and the Consulate of Mexico in San Francisco.