Sean Kelly is delighted to present VENAS DEL CAPULLO, the highly anticipated, inaugural exhibition by Donna Huanca at Sean Kelly, New York. This multi-sensory exhibition expands upon Huanca’s continuing exploration of themes including the body, the cycles of life, and the chaos of the natural world. This site-specific installation, in which the gallery space is enveloped in a recyclable membrane, includes large-scale paintings on canvas and sculptures in stainless steel and mixed media, as well as sound and scent.

"I was thinking of the experimental beginnings of the gallery in Soho and how it played a part in experimental performance art. I wanted to recreate my studio as a lab, as a place for experimentation." - Donna Huanca

Each of Huanca’s installations is a new and experimental environment, drawing on previous bodies of work, but responsive to its specific context and site. With the exhibition’s title, VENAS DEL CAPULLO, Huanca references a state of both waiting and construction inherent to the creative process. She states, “With the installation and title, I wanted to respond to the art gallery being a place of commercial transaction and transform this space into a lab: a place that honors the creative process rather than the finished product.”

"Plastic is now inextricably part of our lives; it has infiltrated everywhere—nature, the air we breathe, and even our bodies. Merging artificial and natural elements is a way for me to reflect on these mutations and their consequences." - Donna Huanca

"The skin is a fascinating organ that contains and protects us while serving as a vessel through which we experience and engage with the physical world. Additionally, it’s a living surface, constantly changing, bearing witness to our lives, almost like a diary." - Donna Huanca

"The jewelry in my sculptures, are both ornaments and signifiers; they say something about our history, our identity, and our personality. Ornamentation as an ancestral means of communication and self-expression."

- Donna Huanca

Concurrent with her inaugural exhibition at Sean Kelly, Huanca is the subject of a major exhibition, titled SCAR TISSUE (BLURRED EARTH), at the Faurschou Foundation, Brooklyn, New York, October 21, 2023–July 14, 2024.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Huanca attended The University of Houston before studying at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and Städelschule, Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Germany. Prominent institutions that have hosted solo exhibitions include: Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico; Space K Seoul, Korea; Marfa Ballroom, Texas; Arnolfini, Bristol; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Belvedere Museum, Vienna; Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark; Yuz Museum, Shanghai, among others. Her work has been exhibited at prominent institutions: Museum of Modern Art PS1, NY; Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao, ES; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami, FL; Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome, IT; Shiomonoseki Art Museum, Yamaguchi, JP; Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, FI, among others.

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