Spotlight on A Grix and Vinni Alfonso
In an unusual pairing, Union Hall will open a two-person exhibition of work by Boulder artist A Grix, and Denver artist Vinni Alfonso, on Thursday November 2, 2023. Through Flesh to Infinity is about journey, transformation, duality, and the cyclical nature of life. Sculptures, paintings, and a site-specific installation that takes the form of a figure purging into a vessel will be on view in the exhibition through January 6, 2024.
A Grix is a transdisciplinary artist and recent graduate of CU Boulder, and Vinni Alfonso has been established in Denver’s art scene for over a decade. Union Hall’s Curator, Esther Hz, joined Grix’s mixed-media, freestanding sculptures and Alfonso’s large-scale paintings for the qualities that they share. An abundance of texture, color, shape and form come alive within the two mediums, eliciting a secret garden sense of wonder within the 1,600 square feet of space at Union Hall. I had the opportunity to converse with A and Vinni on their personal creative practices as well as their collaborative installation for the exhibition.
Image: A Grix’s sculpture (left) sits next to Vinni Alfonso’s painting (right) during the installation of Through Flesh to Infinity.
Disciplines like ceramic, sculpture, and painting are not as concretely defined as they once were. Both of your practices demonstrate an alternative approach to blending mediums. What power lies within blurring the lines of a medium?
A: I’m interested in transdisciplinary practice as an act of liberation for the future. If you think about the word discipline it’s a really negative word like ‘disciplining’ or even the way our bodies are ‘disciplined.’ Within creative practices those boundaries, whether they are overt or accidental, become these limits that keep us confined to spaces and keep us from reaching out or discovering new ways of working and thinking.
V: I think it’s important when investigating a thing to approach it from different angles. The intention is to branch off in order to get lost a little bit, and that brings more discovery and makes it more interesting. It’s about throwing away or defying limitations and not letting the product be controlled by the process.
Vinni and A trusted process over product when creating their bespoke water fountain. “Water Feature” was Grix’s first time collaborating with another artist, whereas Alfonso had a bit more experience with fountains and collaboration. Both worked independently on their pieces of the installation, relinquishing control over the final product.
We are excited about the creative collaboration between you two. Tell us more about what inspired the fountain sculpture?
A: I was interested in the fountain because I was using a lot of tubes in my work and thinking about systems which then led me thinking about plumbing. I became interested in toilets so from there it was a jump of ‘what kind of not-art object can I make that uses a toilet language that isn’t necessarily a toilet?’ The fountain became a way for me to do that. I started working with ways where the tube became both aesthetic and functional features.
V: We were both working with fountains for different reasons coming from different angles. I reference traditionally iconic imagery, and there’s age that comes with the idea of the fountain. I am interested in the idea of monuments and memorializing something, which also has this idea of time wrapped up into the whole concept. There’s a frozen moment thing happening. For me it’s about the memory of the thing and not the thing itself.
A: Our point of connection is really more about the fountain and less about the concept. I am making the vessel parts and Vinni is making the figurative parts, parts that we are both interested in but aren’t necessarily doing ourselves.
“Water Feature” embodies the title of the exhibition, Through Flesh to Infinity, more than any other piece in the show. The figure in “Water Feature” represents the grotesque elements of humanity and the water represents infinity and the cyclical patterns in nature. Hence, the relationship and interconnectedness between the two ideas is really apparent in this collaboration and also uniquely absurd.
— Esther Hz, Chief Curator
What part about working with Union Hall are you most excited about?
V: Esther is very refreshing and seems very excited to put new work in [Union Hall]. The space is just amazing, it's really cool and flexible the way you can move things around in here. It’s a pretty liberating place to put artwork in, in terms of the freedom you give us and in terms of the facility in how shiftable and moveable things are. There is a lot of possibility in the space itself.
Image: Union Hall’s Chief Curator, Esther Hz, unwraps a sculpture by A Grix during the installation of ‘Through Flesh to Infinity.’
A: Especially for an early-career artist, I think it’s great to be able to make work with support and being able to have people to talk to who are interested in your work in a space that is funded and lit without having to worry about the work being sellable. Union Hall is a nonprofit with the goal of supporting artists so [selling artwork] is not their main concern. In a lot of other contexts it wouldn’t really be possible for us to show or make this work because there would be different concerns. That’s really exciting for the space to be about the art, it feels important and one less thing that artists have to compromise on.
During this conversation, Vinni noted other art spaces around Denver that are incredibly supportive of the artists like Pirate: Contemporary Art Oasis, and RedLine Contemporary Art Center. When asked if he has noticed changes in Denver’s art community Vinni said, “There’s always so much going on. The Denver arts community has always been really good, and there’s always a lot of refreshing artists in the city. I don’t think that has changed.”
Supporting small, local arts organizations has a tremendous impact on an artist's ability to play and experiment. There are so many spaces in Denver that are providing curated experiences for the public to ingest. Much of it will be weird, funky, and thought-provoking. It will force us to look a little longer, and question its meaning. We invite you to support as many spaces as you can by visiting exhibitions, participating in events, buying artwork or donating time or money to galleries.