Puppies Puppies

Puppies Puppies

Author: Russell Tovey and Robert Diament August 2, 2024 Duration: 1:14:52

We meet artist Puppies Puppies. Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo (b. 1989, Dallas, TX), widely known by the moniker Puppies Puppies, expands ideas around the readymade by imbuing ubiquitous and everyday objects, signifiers, and actions with a personal and political charge. Puppies Puppies works across sculpture, installation, and performance art.


She has, for example, reconfigured antibacterial gel dispensers, toilet bowl liquid, the color green, as well as the acts of sleeping, peeing, and taking a pill in installations and performances that challenge ableist frameworks of artistic and capitalist production. Many of Puppies Puppies’s exhibitions have also included actionable components: a GoFundMe campaign to support a friend’s transition fund, free HIV testing and counseling, and a working shower available for use by the public. Kuriki-Olivo thus asserts that life can be viewed as its own form of endurance practice, especially for those whose very survival is at stake, including trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people of color.


At the Venice Biennale 2024, Puppies Puppies is exhibiting two works. A Sculpture for Trans Women... (2023) is a life-size bronze sculpture taken from a 3-D scan of the artist’s body. Emblazoned with the word “WOMAN”, the work – which will be activated with performances throughout the Biennale – subverts the power of monuments to make visible and celebrates trans life in an act of protest and commemoration.


Electric Dress (Atsuko Tanaka) (2023) pays tribute to those killed in 2016 at the mass shooting that took place during a “Latin Night” party at Pulse, a queer nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The sculpture references Atsuko Tanaka’s Electric Dress (1956) with LED lights that flicker to the pulse of a heartbeat and lights that cycle through the rainbow colours found in the Progress Pride Flag. Both sculptures honour queer and trans life while confronting oblivion and invisibility.


Follow @PuppiesPuppiesJade


Trigger Warning runs until 31st August @BaliceHertling gallery. Special thanks to Daniel Balice for connecting us! https://www.balicehertling.com/2024/puppies-puppies-jade-guanaro-kuriki-olivo/


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You’re invited into a series of conversations that feel more like hanging out in a gallery after hours than a formal interview. Talk Art brings together actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament, whose shared passion and genuine curiosity create a uniquely accessible doorway into the art world. Each episode unfolds as a relaxed yet insightful chat, pulling back the curtain on creative processes and personal stories. They speak with a wide range of voices-from celebrated artists and influential curators to their own talented friends from fields like music, acting, and journalism-all of whom bring a fresh perspective on why art matters. Tuning into this podcast feels like discovering the stories behind the work, the human connections that fuel creativity, and the simple joy of looking at something familiar in a completely new way. It’s less about art theory and more about the lived experience of art, capturing those moments of wonder that remind us how visual culture shapes and reflects our lives. For a visual companion to the discussions, their Instagram is the perfect place to see the artworks that come up in conversation.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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