NICOLE SALCEDO
WANDERING WAVES, 2020
ON VIEW IN THE WALGREENS WINDOWS PROJECT SPACE
LOCATED AT 23RD STREET AND COLLINS AVENUE
Wandering Waves, 2020
Sumi ink on cotton fabric and acetate, dimensions variable
Nicole Salcedo’s methodical, yet intuitive mark-making visualizes amorphous concepts like cosmic energy, one’s inherent connectedness to Nature and the oscillation of Universal forces. Salcedo’s art takes form in rhythmic and organic lines on paper or cloth that conjure real and imagined landscapes, and often include figures that represent an androgenized spirit of Nature. Charting the wavelengths of invisible energy pulsing through the world, these works can resemble microcosms and ecosystems of life.
Salcedo makes visible unseen networks—akin to root systems—that connect human beings to all life forms. Global events like pandemics often illuminate the existence and necessity of these invisible relationships, revealing a sense of natural entanglement between human beings, landscapes, bodies of water and even the stars. Wandering Waves is an invitation to contemplate humanity’s relationship to this spirit of entanglement. The ink-marked tapestry is a recording of this sense of connectivity, a wandering into a subtle trance, using brushes, twigs, pinecones and other plant-derived objects as materials for mark making.
In the artist’s words:
“We live in a relational reality—a woven tapestry of energy, creating and destroying over and over again into eternity. It has become more and more obvious the degree to which we are all interconnected—human beings, land, sea, cosmos. When we take a breath, we absorb life into us, and as we exhale, we give ourselves fully to the world.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nicole Salcedo (b. 1988, Miami, Florida) is a Cuban American interdisciplinary artist born, raised and based in Miami, Florida. Nicole earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied fibers, performance and object design with drawing as her primary practice. Using meditative marks to create dense patterns, Nicole weaves between micro and macro lines, opening up rhythmic pathways that offer a deeper connection to the energies which flow throughout the universe.
