NADA Miami 2020

Sargent’s Daughters presents three artists exploring the interconnectivity of nature and humanity in a variety of media.

Alta Buden works onsite in rural New York to create cement objects focusing on the relationship between artificiality and nature’s origins. The sculptures are created through a process of experimentation, using running water and found nature, solidified together using earth casting and pit-firing. They are burned in a bonfire, leaving the final result out of Buden’s hands. These vessels hint at the ecologies that form around our waste and the struggle of existing as individuals navigating our own roles as a geophysical force acting on a planetary scale. Buden (b. 1984, New York, NY) completed her MFA from Hunter College, NY in 2017.

Emily Furr’s paintings are small but impactful: oil paint is slathered on with thick maneuvers, yet is controlled and detailed in its execution. The compositions in the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds series are tight to the edges, creating spatial tension. The tongue emerges from the universe, which is depicted in angular, folding shapes, juxtaposing the fluidity of imaginative departure with fixed and unemotional Nature. Furr (b. 1978, St. Louis, MO) received her MFA from Hunter College, NY in 2018 and had her debut solo show with Sargent’s Daughters in August 2018, which was an ARTFORUM Critic’s Pick. She is represented by Sargent’s Daughters.

Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya’s sculptures marry Mexican folklore with the uncanny, creating sublime beings brought to flesh with debris from the desert surrounding the United States-Mexico border. These calculated gestures are anthropomorphized and give birth to Montoya’s otherworldly, illegitimate offspring. Montoya (b. 1989, Parral. Chihuahua, Mexico) graduated with an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020. His debut solo show at Sargent’s Daughters in September 2020 was reviewed in The New York Times. He is represented by Sargent’s Daughters.