The Nasher Sculpture Center is pleased to reveal the plans for a newly commissioned sculpture by artist Ruben Ochoa, inspired by its site at the Trinity River Audubon Center, the artist’s first sculpture commissioned for the public realm. The work is one of ten commissions created for the Nasher’s 10th anniversary, city-wide exhibition Nasher XChange. The sculpture will be on view at the Trinity River Audubon Center during Nasher XChange from October 19, 2013 through February 16, 2014.
Ruben Ochoa is a Los Angeles-based artist who has created a unique body of work that transforms common materials into breathtaking sculptures. For this commission, Ochoa is responding to the origins of the Trinity River Audubon Center as an illegal dump site in Southeast Dallas, which now serves as a beautiful nature center at the edge of the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States.
Ochoa has proposed installing a group of concrete and steel sculptures derived from post footings in chain link fences rising from the ground. In conversation with Brancusi’s Bird in Space, he envisions his installation as man-made forms morphing into organic movement, reminiscent of a ?ock of birds. By evoking the site’s change from urban dumping ground to place of scenic beauty, Ochoa’s work reflects the malleability and resiliency of nature.
A primary theme in Ochoa’s work has been the exploration of the ideas of inclusion and exclusion throughout urban areas and how class and labor have been contextually impacted and neglected by the built environment He uses materials and objects that could be seen to signify demarcation in urban spaces, such as galvanized fence poles, concrete retaining walls, and wooden pallets, and then extrapolates them from their original context to shift their meaning for viewers.
Ochoa was included in the 2011 Venice Biennale Collateral Event, Palazzo Papadopoli, Venice, Italy, the 2008 Whitney Biennial and the 2004 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art. He has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Charles H. Scott gallery at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, British Columbia; and SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico; Locust Projects, Miami, Florida; Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, New York; and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects.
The Nasher has also commissioned Rick Lowe, Liz Larner, Ugo Rondinone, Alfredo Jaar, Vicki Meek, Charles Long, Good/Bad Art Collective, Lara Almarcegui, and Rachel Harrison to create works for Nasher XChange. Details about their works, including the locations of the installations, will be announced throughout the summer.
About the Nasher Sculpture Center:
Open since 2003 and located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District, the Nasher Sculpture Center is home to one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary sculptures in the world, the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, featuring more than 300 masterpieces by Calder, Giacometti, Matisse, Picasso, Rodin, and more. The longtime dream of the late Raymond and Patsy Nasher, the museum was designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano in collaboration with landscape architect Peter Walker.
Hailed by the "USA Today" as one of the great sculpture gardens where art enhances nature, the roofless museum seamlessly integrates the indoor galleries with the outdoor spaces creating a museum experience unlike any other in the world. On view in the light-filled galleries and amid the landscaped grounds are rotating works from the Collection, as well as blockbuster exhibitions and one-of-a-kind installations by the most celebrated artists of our times. In addition to the indoor and outdoor gallery spaces, the Center contains an auditorium, education and research facilities, a cafe, and a store.
The Nasher brings the best of contemporary culture to Dallas through special programs designed to engage visitors, including artist talks, lecture programs, contemporary music concerts, educational classes and exclusive member events.
The Nasher Sculpture Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm and until 11 pm for special events, and from 10 am to 5 pm on the first Saturday of each month. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for students, and free for members and children 12 and under, and includes access to special exhibitions. For more information, visit www.NasherSculptureCenter.org.
About Nasher XChange:
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Nasher Sculpture Center will present Nasher XChange, a dynamic art exhibition consisting of 10 newly-commissioned public sculptures by contemporary artists at 10 sites throughout the city of Dallas from October 19, 2013 to February 16, 2014. Covering a diverse range of neighborhoods and approaches to sculpture, Nasher XChange represents the first citywide, museum-organized public art exhibition in the United States.
About the Trinity River Audubon Center:
The Trinity River Audubon Center (TRAC) is managed by Audubon Texas, the state program of the National Audubon Society. Audubon’s mission for more than 100 years has been to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.
In addition to conservation programs, Audubon is engaging 28,000 students per year through the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center (San Antonio), Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center (Cedar Hill) and the Trinity River Audubon Center, mentoring conservation interns, and hosting workshops and programs that connect children and adults with nature.
The mission of the Trinity River Audubon Center (TRAC) is to instill a shared appreciation and sense of stewardship for the natural world through hands-on nature education, citizen science and conservation.
Since opening its doors in October 2008, TRAC has seen 200,000 visitors and served 60,000 students through education programs – primarily from the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). 48% of the schools in DISD are categorized as Title I schools, and more than 85% of the students come from low- and moderate-income families. More than 20,000 elementary students live within five miles of the Center.
TRAC’s formal education programs include: Eco-Investigations, Conservation Workshop, and Nature Club. We offer family activities throughout the year which relate to local ecology, habitat study and stewardship. These activities incorporate education and recreation while encouraging family interaction and environmental stewardship of natural resources. Examples of activities include beginning birding, astronomy, night hikes, animal encounters, nature clubs and five miles of hiking trails through restored prairie, wetlands and bottomland forest ecosystems. For more information, visit www.trinityriveraudubon.org
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