JYNX PRADO'S PINOCCHIO AND THE PUPPET

Irrational Exhibits #12 : Bendix Building — TSALA Hosts Jynx Prado and Wes Weisbaum

Concept: Queery Tales II: Pinocchio and The Puppet is a music, audio text response, and time durational piece that retells the story of Pinocchio in the lens of a Genderfluid identity that has been influenced and controlled by cultural, religious, generational trauma. Who is the real puppet and who controls what? Who is who? The Same story about a puppet that just wants to be a real person is yet again retold for those reliving it in 2023 as hate crimes and anti-legislation looms over the U.S.

The origins of The Idea:

Pinocchio: Among the list of the 6 stories I wanted to retell Pinocchio was the one that I thought of that made Queery Tales a reality with its overall message: Everyone deserves to be seen as humans and what better character to have the best understanding to be seen as a real person than the puppet Pinocchio? I thought of moments from the different iterations of the story as early as the 1st written tale in the 1800s to the more recent Guillermo Del Toro version and one moment that is always recreated that gets my attention was the part where Pinocchio is brought to a puppet show to perform in front of a crowd of spectators. Not only did it bridge the identity of Pinocchio from his external side of being a puppet but the way how he is not aware of the irony of performing as a puppet surrounded by other puppets that are not like him but he thinks he is acting freely under a system he is stuck in. That was reality to me. I believe that at some point growing up queer we believe we are being ourselves under a system that limits our movements and we feel fine when given movement until reality hits and we figure out we are restricted even when amongst our own. I do not feel as safe with my community than outside it when some of my own do not have the same experiences as I have being genderfluid. I also do not feel as free in public knowing some people see me as just a male (A puppet) when I see myself as an individual who is fluid with my gender (A real boy).

Planning:

The Scene: When I found my scene I wanted to make a new project that was both innovative to my practice as well as familiar to what I work with in my overall work. I did thought of making a Pinocchio Puppet out of wood but I thought of two things:

1.) Logically the material collecting and process to carve wood would need more time to experiment and play with to make a fully wooden Pinocchio that I would imagine would work best in this piece.

2.) Emotionally I have put on record that my burlap pieces not only represent my community and really anyone who can relate to the message per piece but they relate to me the most. I tend to be told that my burlap figures look very life-like for their weight and fiber so why reinvent the wheel when I can recreate Pinocchio the same way how I create my sculptures?

The “Puppet”: It was the first time creating a puppet and it was both fun and a learning experience since not only did I have to create a body that read as my own work but it had to be read as a puppet visually and functionally. Some can argue that my version of Pinocchio can be called an embodiment sculpture like the rest of my works and some can argue against that but I would just say that it is both. I designed Pinocchio to have the similar body design of a puppets movement while trying to maintain the similar forms of body parts that my original sculptures would capture so that hybridity can be read as such (Blue Print can be found in Process and Notes section). I was stumped on how the movement really works for puppets so I had to sit with the piece and study for a bit.

Coincidentally the famous Bob Baker Marionette Fair was going on the same week most of the plans were made so I took a trip and watched the magic happen. I seen how much of the puppeteers wore monochromatic colors to perform with the puppet so the puppet can be read better as well as attempting to fit in a similar style so if the puppet had a baggy outfit so did the puppeteer. Before speaking to anyone I wanted to make sure to gather my questions by watching before asking; I watched how the movement of both the puppets and puppeteers were in a visual dance and what kind of frames were used to hoist the puppets and why. Puppeteers with experience showed expressions with their face to correlate the body language of the puppet in order to signify the emotion at play. I seen large frames for big exaggerated movements and small wood puppet frames for small, intimate parts like small arms or mouths. After discussing with several puppeteers I went back to the drawing board and finished up the designs and created my version of Pinocchio.

The Pinocchio and The Puppet: I did plan for myself to be Pinocchio at one point to have the audience interact with me by pulling strings that attach to a frame that attach to me, but I found that A.) I’m chunky so those ropes wont last long and B.) I do not believe anyone would be willing to participate in a piece possibly knowing the implications of hoisting a queer body around and they may feel that they are too responsible for my actions (Maybe for a future piece?). The idea stood with me and I combined this and myself controlling the piece into two bodies at play that are not distinguished by title but in actions are similar hence why the vagueness of the title Pinocchio and The Puppet.

The Literal Framework:

The Cross: The wood frame was initially going to be a duplicate of what I was using to control the piece but given that other iterations were similar to a cross I had to include that as the ideal frame. With this info you can probably guess that the work’s focus on the idea that religion has historically been controlling the narrative of gender roles may have come into play after the fact and was not a preconceived idea for the piece and you would be right. It is both a coincidence that I used a crossbar to have my body be controlled and it is a given since growing up I was bombarded with religious iconography and the thoughts of religion have influenced me without my permission thanks my religiously stricken culture and family. Gender norms have been dictated by the Euro-Centric way of thinking that is dominated by Christian/Catholic pedagogy and it is always important to look back to that fact even when that system is diminishing; Gender norms of today came from somewhere and it is always best to reflect on that even when it isn’t the main subject.

The Audio: The secondary function of the piece is the audio that plays with the performance and dictates what happens. The scene that was being retold had puppet-like music to play in the background so I did some research on 1800’s music from Italy when the original story was set in. I found a song called Allegro Con Brico by Ignazio Spergher’s Sonate in B flat major and I also mixed in a beat that matches in current music by slowing it down and changing the sound to make it more of an echo. I wanted the piece to communicate in itself so while the music played there would be text audio heard of myself reading out states, letters, numbers and different titles: “Education” Freedom of speech, Healthcare, Identity info, Other anti LGBTQ rights and Civil Rights. What I was reading was the over 400+ anti queer and anti trans bills that have either been proposed, in current debate or passed laws from every state in the United States as of May 2023 for this year alone. Whenever these laws were read out I would freeze in place hanging by literal threads along with my Pinocchio to show how the bills limit movement. When the last bills in the list are read the music starts to go on quick intervals like a completed record player till it goes faster and closer and louder till a single glitch of a tone plays and goes silent. I made it so it can give the signal of the final 10 minutes of the piece as well as a metaphor that the music playing on repeat was actually representing a queer life starting and ending and as it repeated quicker and ended faster it means more and more lives went by till it stopped. This would commence the final 10 minutes of the piece that really is the overarching message of the performance. Within the 10 minutes audio of news reports and interviews of queer individuals are played of current news that involve anti trans and anti queer protests and outrage within the past year. As this audio plays I lay Pinocchio to rest under a white blanket so people no longer see a puppet or a sculpture but a covered body that was once seen with laughter and foolery to then be a hard reality of how we are seen after being controlled too long.

My Thoughts of the after-math: I will be deeply honest with you about the piece: I thought it was a failure at first. The last 10 minutes of the piece after nearly an hour and 50 minutes of performing with the puppet the mood shifts from a very joyful moment to what ever one may determine the moments to be. To me the moment would be a wake up call for hearing queer voices and seeing us as human as possible even if it means seeing a puppet once seen lively and joyful to be covered in a white cloth like you would with any deceased individual. However for most people who saw or were seeing the piece the moment it happened it was a signal to leave, immediately in fact, when the realization hit that this performance was a lie and not some joyful moment that we can escape from no no it was a message like many art performances and it was a message that much of those who are not affected by would rather not try to even witness. I was shocked. by the time th audio ended I would of gotten up and the piece would of ended right there, but I was just amazed in different emptions that I decided to dedicate myself to stay as long as I could staring into space against the wall with the covered Pinocchio and see how those who I recall watching the piece would come back to respond by. It was exactly as I unfortunately thought of: much of those who once saw an artist act like a fool tied from neck to toe against a cross bar puppeteering a burlap piece for their entertainment was seen as human again people really avoided eye contact or to look at the direction of the set. Even the camera guy who was assigned to our floor left right as the 10 minutes was in the middle as in a rush too. The only individuals who stayed and communicated with me in this piece are those who I know and those individuals were part of my community, the community that had to speak but was never acknowledged because it was just too inconvenient. I was upset. Walked out really felt unheard at that last moment and just felt like an actual Pinocchio that was not heard when I was no longer able to move. I thought this piece was a failure until I thought about it and I realized that all art has reactions, good and bad, and my audience had a quick shift that made it so real that it really replicated reality: Trans and Queer lives are really acknowledged only when those outside benefit from it. It is all over and it is reflected: Drag race being seen by straight allies and corporations as the “Queer 101” in pop culture, queer movies and media eaten up by big money to be promoted with little effort and rainbows hoisted in June only to be tossed when it no longer benefits who controls queer lives and when it endangers their own -— own money that is. I really thought of shoving the piece in the storage box to never be brought up but it would be injustice to do so knowing it really did its job: It taught me that my work, our work, is needed more than ever. Pinocchio in all of us will one day be seen as real people but it will take a whole lot to do so.

Jynx Prado's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS: A Queery Tale

Cerritos College Press Release Here and below

They Perished By The Wicked … For Being True And The Fairest Of All …

In the EXTERIOR WINDOW VITRINE
February 6, 2023 – March 10, 2023
Artist Talk: Monday, February 6, 2023 @ 6PM
Reception: Monday, February 6, 2023 @ 7-9PM
 
The Cerritos College Art Gallery is pleased to present Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins, a special Window Dressing installation by the Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist Jynx Prado. 
 
Deploying ample doses of humor and irony, Prado’s work seeks to intervene into the circuits of familiar iconography in order to better describe their lived environment and convey the nuances of their social life as a queer, nonbinary Mexi-Salvi American. Their practice ranges from paintings to sculptures to performances to installations, generally using burlap fabric as their unifying material. A loosely spun fiber with a rough texture and uncommonly resilient strength, burlap is fabricated material derived from the ordinary jute plant (corchorus olitorius), a safe and sustainable natural crop. Prado uses this material ambiguity, between the natural and the artificial, as a broader metaphor for the cycles of life and death present in their life and work. Once a living jute plant, in death it becomes a natural fiber that is artificial woven into a burlap pattern and then sewn together to become the embodiment of a new life, the vessel for a shared experience. 
 
This literal and metaphorical trans-formation is most prevalent in Prado’s Embodiments series, which consist of various fibrous bodies (humanoid, animalistic, and/or abstracted forms) each singularly and collectively operating as surrogates for the experience of a queer, genderfluid individual. The primary persona, manifested throughout this series though varying in form and number over time, is a character Prado has dubbed Mx. Burlap, a multiplicious figure representing the indeterminacy of the trans and/or nonbinary experience through a never-static, ever-evolving configuration. Despite, or perhaps due to, the evasiveness of their identity, Mx. Burlap is described by Prado as “wearing a burlap sack on their head,” a vague allusion, it seems, to being held hostage and/or humbled and humiliated (i.e. sackcloth and ashes), at a time when the queer community is frequently villainized, and even criminalized, both globally and, even here, in the United States. 

For their special Window Dressing installation in the Exterior Window Vitrine of the Cerritos College Art Gallery, Prado will debut Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins: A Queery Tale, the first of a new series focused on re-presenting familiar fairy tales from a nonbinary perspective. Included in the installation are all three current Mx. Burlap forms from The Embodiments series, including one taking the place of the titular Snow White. Within the context of this queer retelling, Mx. Burlap (Snow White), laying prone on their coffin, becomes a proxy for the all-too-many victims of anti-LGBT violence today. Just as Snow White from the grim fairy tale is, at least temporarily, murdered by her wicked and jealous step-mother, the Queen, simply for being the true “fairest of them all,” trans and nonbinary people are, these days, habitually murdered just for the supposed ‘sin’ of being their true and fairest selves. As part of their ongoing installation, the artist will also randomly perform alongside their sculptures as a living and breathing embodiment, a fabulous Snow White finally awakened from their cursed slumber.

ARTIST NOTES:

Creating the Performance:

When I planned for the duration of the piece I thought at first that I could add different performance elements to get myself moving within the confined space as well as to avoid staying static. However looking back at different performances that I have done I realize that majority keep as a constant repetition with very minimal movement. If I decided to do several if not one huge constant cycle of acts during the piece then it would not really be consistent with previous works so I pondered on what to do. Looking into Snow White’s story the only thing noticeable that was repeated was just her stillness in the bed after eating the poisoned apple. For my Queery Tales Series one other Story that will be included in future works is Sleeping Beauty and I was going to do a sleeping portion so I didn’t want to do two of the same actions within the two. I decided on making Sleeping Beauty explore the dress making than the sleeping and tweaked the sleep into focusing into the paralysis of Snow White. In the Original Snow White story she was first poisoned by a comb, but that failed. Then by the apple that did not kill her but just paralyzed her unconscious once it was stuck in her throat, similar to a coma, until her prince kissed her that made her cough out the apple piece.

Looking back at performances I have studied there are various kinds of motionless endurance works: From EJ Hills Excellentia, Mollitia, Victoria, 2018 standing performance, James Luna’s Artifact Piece with a resting spread flat performance, Marina Abramovic’s The Artist is Present with her insane 716 hours and 30 minutes of sitting and observing the viewer performance and T.J. Dedeaux-Norris’s with their Eulogy Coffin performance all these artists had two things in common that made their motionless performances so unique with similar positions: Context variety and interaction with the Audience vary. For their audience Hill, Luna and Dedeaux-Norris all never acknowledge their audience while Abramovic’s relies on the interaction by attempting to connect with her observer. Luna and Dedeaux-Norris both lay down but Luna is in the context of representing himself as the bodies and sacred objects that colonial institutions have stolen from Native Americans while Dedeaux-Norris creates a funeral for their deceased artistic persona Tameka Jenean Norris that stems within their personal history and struggles coming up as a black nonbinary individual being put to rest as they start their life as Dedeaux-Norris.

All of the mentioned performance artists looked within their identity and within the context of where, what and when the work was made and they initiate their pieces with all that. Now When I gathered all this I didn’t want to recreate something that was already done nor did I want to explore a problem that was already observed. I read the entire original Snow White Story as well as looked at several iterations of this story and a lot of these stories were similar but were made in different eras of media as well as times in history. In the year 2023 the increase of anti trans and Nonbinary, Genderqueer laws in the United States have increased more than any other year, going over 400 as of early March, and the people within the communities affected have either been in conflict with law enforcement or by life-threatening situations that ended horribly. I looked at my timeline and Snow White and took notice of a connection: In the story the evil queen wants to be the fairest of all, but she is always stooped by Snow White so she ends up killing Snow White. Snow White really didn’t do anything other than being her true and fairest self and it hit me: What have trans and genderqueer people do to deserve the punishments we have been getting? I know for sure I have not done anything as a genderfluid person other than trying to live my life and being my true self. I fill in the context needed for the piece by representing myself as Snow White herself or in this case as themself as in the trans and genderqueer community as a whole. I would perform the piece by placing myself as Snow White to represent the communities being paralyzed by the evil queen of politics because we wee\re being our true selves and the queen felt threatened by it.

With the audience interaction I did not want to acknowledge them, but I did not want to be gone from their perspective by being asleep. Yes Snow White was asleep when she was paralyzed, but in the context of the story she was seen as dead, gone from existence. Trans and genderqueer communities are still here and always have been, but their freedoms and ability to move forward with their lives aren’t. In this case it is best to be paralyzed by being awake in the ‘Snow White Position’ while being in a giant window gallery AKA the worlds biggest glass bed case for the audience to have a separation from me but not far enough for them to not notice me. However for me to be paralyzed and motionless can also reference those who have passed away from anti trans and genderqueer violence; For me to be awake it could be for the souls that cannot rest in peace when our communities continue to be hunted down and politically attacked by the oppressors. The Glass separation of the gallery for myself and the audience is really like real life for trans and genderqueer people when those outside of the impact of anti-laws we face either react as they witness the impact by attempting to reach out or they are not phased for not being impacted by the politics. I suspected that once the performance starts the audience would either try to interact with me as I look up toward the ceiling or they glance and walk away. This was the case and more but that will be further explained in another portion of these notes.

Intimidating Intimacy: Grand Central Art Center Solo Exhibition

From Early March to Late June Jynx Prado exhibited their first solo exhibition, curated by John Spiak, since their post-graduation.

Press Release for the exhibition:
Februrary 2022 BY GCAC
Jynx Prado: Intimidating Intimacy

Featured in:
FRIEZE ISSUE 226 VENICE EDITION (Americas Section) (Page 130)
ForYourArt (Website)
KRCW Ad (Radio April 25th- June 6th 2022)

Intimidating Intimacy is a recreated documentation of a video performance from a year prior, represented in a multimedia installation. With a reflection of time, the work on exhibition revisits the past performance with a deeper understanding of body, mind, and self-worth as a queer individual. The objects manifest as three-dimensional stills of performative action through a broad range of materials. They recontextualize Jynx’s intimidating, intimate moments with past partners as a love letter to themself.
Source: GCAC Jynx Prado Article

Works in the exhibition

The Space itself:
The exhibition consists of several sculptures that rests agsinst the walls, armeatures and on the floor that are all humanoid in form and colorful in its presentation. The first noticable feature of this entire show is the walls itself that are a fuchsia pink that is considered my signature color. I experimented with site specific installs with painted walls and the one that reflected and absorbed color really well for me was this color and when I was asked if I was interested in painting the walls a certain color I was more than thrilled. I love when colors bounce around, get reactive and vibrate together. The way how the colors move while inamimate makes it feel more alive to me. The colors almost make the sculptures feel as if they can move at any moment and I wanted to work with that. The size of the room was perfect for the amount of works I brought in that made it felt like a dance room or ball room that had a happening in it. I felt that each sculpture had to have its own personality, its own story but they all needed to be aware of each other at the same time. All the sculptures had its own story to tell, their own moves to make and their own conversations with each other. Relationships should cross boundries beyond what is known and within strangers and I hope to investigate that further after this exhibition.

The Video Piece:
The single piece that was different than the rest but was a key component to all the works and the exhibitions meaning was the 14 minute long video piece “ Deflower, 2021 “ The whole idea to talk about intimidating intimacy was from the reasoning of creating that video. It was the start of 2021 nearly a year since the COVID Pandemic began and my love life was pretty rocky at the time. So much so that I decided to create a video piece based on the past relationships I have had with different people that was followed by all sorts of problems: Homophobia, biphobia, body shaming, domestic and sexual abuse and the emotional and mental struggles I experienced. After the production of the video, made during my residency with Slanguage Studios, I continued to research more deeper in the videos meaning months after and I felt that there was more to be talked about. I made photo series, sculptures and drawings based on that video and when I was asked to have the show months later I thought it was the perfect time to introduce my findings. What was shown in that exhibition was parts of those findings. Referring back to the metaphor I stated about the room being like a dance room I felt that the video was like the music playing in that room and quite literally it was the ambiance of the music that played in that video that made the eerie and yet playful nature of the show.

The Story behind the Story:
The room had several pieces that were grouped together and several that were singular. In keeping to the idea of a dance/ball room I purposely created that feeling of different crowds with their own stable and uniformed emotion while the ones that were isolated had that feeling of isolation; Lonliness and dred yet energetic and hopefulness within them. It is honestly funny that it ended up that way because one of my past relationships involved a ball that I attended with them that gave the same feelings since we were separated due to a homophobic faculty member that was present in the floor that saw my date and I dance together in the slow dance session. I guess you can say a story leaked into the story that was recreated for this show that being the ballroom mishap forming within my overall take of past relationships from the video. Like a subconsious thought of my past just coming in as a co-curator to the show setting themselves into place to add new meaning. Not to say that the ideas behind the creation of the works is now at a different meaning based on the relevation I had at the time but it just shows how internal trauma can be shown in times of the most unexpected. It genuinely comforted me knowing that I can take that memory and just use it like an adhesive for my exhbitions assemblage instead of it acting as some sort of stain on it. Overall the assembly of different groupings and single pieces really did speak more for the idea of intimacy than the context of the works.

After The Fact:
From the deinstalling of my work I just kept thinking that there was some irony in it all. The show itself was about my intimate moments with past connections as well as the intimidating moments that I feel anyone has or can experience within relationships. However I felt that for something to be intimate it has to be personal, familiar but moreover private. Now that the story is out and into the public I feel that some of that privacy is eliminated, besides the actual names of those involved are not known except for the few who know me closely and have seen these relationships happen for them to understand the symbols and meanings thrown out there to know who was brought up, and now the exhibition in itself has a new meaning. The intimate moment, I believe, now rests in the hands of those who have witnessed this exhibition; Those who were confronted with my work, who thought of, questioned and connected their own personal experiences with my own are now the vessels of the intimate moment that is what the exhibition is meant for, unless they also express in correlation to my exhibition but heck who would keep account to the many points of view who witnessed it? The world is grand yet the emotions we carry are miniscule in comparison, heavy and large personally yes, but overall small from the fact that we all experience our own intimadating, intimate moments some way shape or form. Writing that down in my note book I even felt that it brought a whole new meaning to my own thoughts on the subject and it might affect the way I carry myself into future relationships, despite that I feel confident that I only scratched the surface of it all and I’ll just keep hacking onto it till the next story leaks out of that surface.

Artist Comment:
Thank you to John Spiak, the affiliates of Grand Central Art Center and everyone who has supported and seen this exhibition. I was thrilled and grateful to have such a community space to be my first solo right out of my academic career since 2020. Intimidating Intimacy is a year long collection of works I have been inspired to work towards not just for a meditative closure for my own history of relationships but to have a deeper conversation about all kinds of relationships post-Covid Pandemic. I hope to continue my projectory to keep these conversations going years on after.

-Jynx Prado

"Broke with Expensive Taste": With Artists Jynx Prado and Surge Witrön

From November 8th to December 13th
Location: VAMA Gallery, Los Angeles City College

Press Release:

VAMA Gallery is proud to present “Broke with Expensive Taste”, a two person exhibition by Los Angeles based artists Jynx Prado and Surge Witrön. Embracing non-traditional methods and materials, these two artists work with an exuberant love for the handmade and resulting in unlikely synergies.

Befitting the title, the recycled, found or surprising use of materials in the paintings of Witrön and the sculptures by Prado celebrate the absurd and unexpected. Playful and inventive as the first impression may seem, the viewer is left with a sense of fragility inherent to the transitoriness of all human endeavors.

Jynx Prado uses an interdisciplinary practice to question and critique what is natural and artificial within cultures and the world at large. Through humor, irony, language, and symbolism Prado intertwines their experiences and histories as a queer, Mexican-Salvadoran mixed American in their work in a rasquachismo form. Prado graduated from OTIS College of Art and Design with their Master of Fine Arts + Emphasis in Social Practice degree in 2020, and received their BFA at California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2018.

Surge Witrön's explorative process produces works that combine coexistent traditions in abstract painting, gesture and mark making, through a process of overlaying, erasing, and abrasing. Components of what he coins as personal D.N.A. are embedded through the inclusion of personal artifacts representing matriarchal family members, readymade materials, and repurposed play objects. Surge Witrön is an educator, curator/artist and plant enthusiast. He is a second generation American to immigrant parents. Growing up with expressions of “Echale Ganas!'' have echoed in his professional and artistic practice. Witrön has exhibited work in numerous exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Mexico City. Some selected exhibitions include “QiPo Art Fair 02” at CDMX, “Play” at The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG).

About VAMA Gallery

VAMA gallery features the work of emerging and established LA artists in
thematically curated shows. Artist talks, panel discussions, and related events
provide context and opportunity for dialogue. Our exhibits are carefully
curated by our team of generous volunteers and we pride ourselves on having
a diverse showing of art from different disciplines and artists who come from
unique backgrounds.

"The Nature of Human Laws. The Laws of Human Nature." MFA Thesis Exhibition

Happy New year everyone!

My MFA Thesis: "The Nature of Human Laws. The Laws of Human Nature." Is officially announced and it will be an ongoing performance and art exhibition from Feb 2nd- February 6th on Closing day.

The Closing Reception where the performance will end and celebration of it will happen on Feb 6th, 7-10 P.M. at the OTIS College of Art and Design Bolsky Gallery.

Hope to see you all there!

- Jynx Prado

Black Friday Pop Up Exhibition: D2 Art Gallery

Prado along with 29 other local and international artists will be in “ Black Friday” which will be exhibited at D2ART Gallery, 1205 N La Brea Ave, Inglewood, CA 90302, from 4 - 8 P.M. on Black Friday, November 29th. Small works will be sold in the space for anyone who wishes to own an artwork for the holiday season. Curated by Martin Durazo, the pop up exhibition will be featuring many different backgrounds from emerging to experienced artists.