Banner artwork: Alexa Horochowski, Conquistador with Rock (from the installation Cloud Cave), iron, brass rods. This work, along with the other sculptural pieces in the Cloud Cave installation are on view at Burnet Gallery, in the Chambers Hotel through July 4.
Cropped and reproduced in access+ENGAGE with permission of the artist
About her work, Horochowski writes: “Utilizing the artificial horizon of the exhibition space where wall meets floor, I reconstruct site-specific landscapes consisting of sculpture, digital photography, sound, 
fluorescent lights, carpeting, and other synthetic materials. Manufactured objects function as proxies for nature, creating psychic environments that acknowledge the history of landscape painting while simultaneously revealing its practical, internal structure.
“Sculptural objects function as props that can be continually rearranged to suggest multiple narratives and distinct installations. Each sculpture is completed by the architecture of the gallery and the visitor, who invests the open space with imagined elements such as land, sky, and water.
“Powder coats, sprayed chrome and auto paint enamels mask traditional materials such as steel and bronze to create works that confound a simple understanding of material. A bronze figure looks crafted from porcelain or a branch may appear to be the original, contradicting expectations of mass and volume. Conversely, a sculpture such as Dowel Mountain takes on the qualities of a drawing by utilizing 1/8” wood dowels that produce a line too thin to be viewed as mass, and a structure that appears to vanish and reappear as one circles it.”
Find more of the artist's reflections on her work in recent interviews with Frank 151 and the website, Local Artist Interviews.
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About the artist: Alexa Horochowski grew up in Patagonia, Argentina, and immigrated with her family to the United States when she was nine years old. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan as well as a Bachelor of Art and of Journalism at the University of Missouri.
She has exhibited nationally and internationally including, Braga Menendez Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina; The Drawing Center, NYC; Diverseworks Art Space, Houston; Praxis International Art, NYC; Praxis International Art, Miami; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN; Galeria Contrast, Toronto International Art Fair, Canada; Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, IL; Franklin Artworks, Minneapolis, MN; Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN; The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN, to name just a few.
Alexa has also been the recipient of the Can Serrat Artist Residency, El Bruc, Spain; El Basilisco Artist Residency, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bush Fellowship; McKnight Fellowship; Jerome Fellowship; Franconia Sculpture Park, Jerome Residency Program; and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Artist Residency, Omaha, NE.
Related events and exhibitions:
Horochowski's installation, Cloud Cave, at the Burnet Gallery in Chambers will be on view through July 4. In addition, her exhibition is also one of the projects featured in Northern Spark's upcoming Nuit Blanche; musicians Artifact Shore will perform sound pieces that reference the work in Burnet Gallery June 4.
Credits: Photos courtesy of the artist. Middle right: Installation view of Cloud Cave, featuring Tall Ships, Stalactite, bronze, Map, inkjet print. Bottom left, the artist, in her leathers, at an iron pour; bottom right, detail from Cave, inkjet, polished steel.