Nicholas Cueva
Dana Point
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Sex Wax
Freight+Volume is pleased to announce Sex Wax, our debut exhibition of a new body of paintings on fabric by Nicholas Cueva. Drawing from his upbringing in the Calvary Chapel Surfing Association, a self-described “surfing church”, Cueva’s work examines surfing from a personal perspective, presenting it as a nexus of emotional resonances and fatalistic paradoxes, all the while exploring its intrinsically dynamic formal qualities. Currents of both spiritual ecstasy and menace run throughout the paintings on display; as if a mirage, Cueva’s paintings obfuscate the boundaries of reality and personal impulses of psychological projection and desire.
Though surfing was a constant throughout Cueva’s childhood and adolescent years, he emphasizes his simultaneously distant and complex relationship with it, particularly in the context of the religious teachings that accompanied it in his life, a tension that is reflected in much of the work in Sex Wax. Born with Truncus Arteriosus, a rare congenital heart defect that left him physically weak, he was rarely able to surf, and feeling as an outsider looking in, Cueva struggled to resolve the contradiction of the “miraculous” nature of his survival through infancy with a belief in a fundamentally benevolent God.
Traces of an omniscient, infinite presence permeate his depictions of surfers, reflecting Cueva’s continual engagement with questions of fate and predestination; his compositions bear a markedly voyeuristic element, as if the figures of surfers are being watched by an unseen party, and faces are superimposed onto crests of waves, as depicted in Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) 1:7 and Bad Apple Bobbing. In the latter, the face grins ominously, suggesting a sinister aspect accentuated by the pair of red surfboards that pierce the waves above, appearing as horns. Depicting a lone female figure before she leaps into the ocean, No Berries on the Trees coalesces these divergent approaches to the question of fate and divine intervention; the viewer cannot be sure whether the subject is on the verge of suicide or salvation, leaving a potent reminder of the unpredictability of life and the capriciousness of fate.
Painted on hand-stitched scraps of found fabric and other textiles, the diversity of textural supports lends Sex Wax an archival, almost diaristic quality. Though united by Cueva’s expressive handling of paint and palette (underscored by variations of fuschia and gray-blue hues), the salvaged fabric and rope elements conjure impressions of long forgotten memories and their remnants. The muted, desaturated tones of Walking Away, Fool Me Once, and 쓰러진 자들 영원히 기억 되리라 (Those who fall will be remembered forever) recall the appearance of silver-gelatin photographic prints, recapitulating the themes of subjective memory and fantastic recollection that define the exhibition.
Nicholas Cueva was born in Dana Point, California in 1983. He received his MFA from SAIC in 2011, and has lived in New York since. He has exhibited widely throughout the United States, including group exhibitions at the Torrance Museum of Art (CA) and Ess Ef Eff (Brooklyn, NY) and solo exhibitions at MPTSN and Dreamboat (Chicago, IL), among others.
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Artist
Date
Apr 11 - May 19, 2019
Location
Contact
Photos
Installation view of Sex Wax
Freight + Volume, New York
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Sex Wax
Nicholas Cueva solo exhibition
2019
Freight + Volume, New York
Image courtesy of Freight + Volume, New York
Sex Wax
Nicholas Cueva solo exhibition
2019
Freight + Volume, New York
Image courtesy of Freight + Volume, New York
Sex Wax
Nicholas Cueva solo exhibition
2019
Freight + Volume, New York
Sex Wax
Nicholas Cueva solo exhibition
2019
Freight + Volume, New York
Sex Wax
Nicholas Cueva solo exhibition
2019
Freight + Volume, New York
Installation view of Sex Wax
Freight + Volume, New York
Artworks
Nicholas Cueva > <
Bad Apple Bobbing
The Development of My Life
Dublin
Endless Entertainment
All's Quiet on the Western front
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) 1:7
Error 404
First Kiss
Fission
Fool Me Once
Gender Equality
Head Injury
Kindling
It's A Lot of Bad Things
Last One Picked
Last One Picked
Made in mar
No Berries on the Trees
Phtheosophical
Pretty Please
Q
"Sous les pavés, la plage!"
쓰러진 자들 영원히 기억 되리라 (Those who fall will be remembered forever)
Walking Away
Your Absence
You're The Captain of the Ship
Nicholas Cueva > <
Bad Apple Bobbing
The Development of My Life
Dublin
Endless Entertainment
All's Quiet on the Western front
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) 1:7
Error 404
First Kiss
Fission
Fool Me Once
Gender Equality
Head Injury
Kindling
It's A Lot of Bad Things
Last One Picked
Last One Picked
Made in mar
No Berries on the Trees
Phtheosophical
Pretty Please
Q
"Sous les pavés, la plage!"
쓰러진 자들 영원히 기억 되리라 (Those who fall will be remembered forever)
Walking Away
Your Absence
You're The Captain of the Ship
Nicholas Cueva
Close
Open
Bad Apple Bobbing
2019
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
The Development of My Life
2019
Acrylic on fabric
10h x 8w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Dublin
2019
Acrylic on fabric
35h x 22w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Endless Entertainment
2019
Acrylic on fabric
Size variable
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
All's Quiet on the Western front
2018
Acrylic on fabric
10h x 8w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) 1:7
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Error 404
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
First Kiss
2018
Acrylic on fabric
48h x 38w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Fission
2018
Acrylic on fabric
22h x 19w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Fool Me Once
2018
Acrylic on fabric
36h x 30w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Gender Equality
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Head Injury
2018
Acrylic on fabric
56h x 56w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Kindling
2018
Acrylic on fabric
18h x 14w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
It's A Lot of Bad Things
2018
Acrylic on fabric
62h x 62w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Last One Picked
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Last One Picked
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Made in mar
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
No Berries on the Trees
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Phtheosophical
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Pretty Please
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Q
2018
Acrylic on fabric
106h x 52w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
"Sous les pavés, la plage!"
2018
Acrylic on fabric
10h x 8w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
쓰러진 자들 영원히 기억 되리라 (Those who fall will be remembered forever)
2018
Acrylic on fabric
12h x 9w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Walking Away
2018
Acrylic on fabric
30h x 36w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Your Absence
2018
Acrylic on canvas
10h x 8w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
You're The Captain of the Ship
2018
Acrylic on fabric
10h x 8w in
Courtesy of artist and Freight + Volume, New York
Photo by Rob Ventura
Artists
Nicholas Cueva
Dana Point
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