This fall, Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio premieres Invernadero herido (para Huerta) [Wounded greenhouse (for Huerta)], his first outdoor installation on the East Coast commissioned by Art Omi, centered around the Wardian case, a nineteenth-century device of colonial extraction that was used to transport living plants from Central and South America to collectors in Europe and the United States. The apparatus later became used as a model for the architecture of the Crystal Palace in London. The glass enclosure points to entanglements between human and nonhuman histories and lives.

Aparicio examines colonial histories of materials linked to pre-Hispanic cultures in Central America, particularly his family’s homeland of El Salvador. Tracing the cultural and technological knowledge embedded in historical uses of rubber, amber, and tree bark, his work lingers on materials with medicinal properties that are mined by corporations today. This project continues his exploration of migration, modes of survival, and connections between El Salvador and the United States.

Curated by Sara O’Keeffe, Senior Curator. 

Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio (b. 1990, Los Angeles; lives and works in Los Angeles) received an MFA from Yale University (2016) and a BA from Bard College (2012). Solo exhibitions have been held at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2023); Los Angeles State Historic Park, Clockshop (2021); Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2020); Páramo, Guadalajara (2019); The Mistake Room, Los Angeles (2018); and Green Gallery, New Haven (2016). Selected group exhibitions have been held at Prospect.6, New Orleans (2024); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2024); The Clark, Williamstown (2023); Denver Art Museum (2022); Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson (2022); Hauser & Wirth, New York (2022); American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (2022); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2021); El Museo del Barrio, New York (2021); Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville (2020); Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (2019); Anonymous Gallery, Mexico City (2018); Smack Mellon, Brooklyn (2017); and Abrons Art Center, New York (2016). Aparicio is a recipient of California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists (2018) and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2016).

Aparicio’s work is in the collections of AltaMed Art Collection, Los Angeles; Denver Art Museum; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

SUPPORT

Art Omi’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Major support for this exhibition is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Harpo Foundation.