New Works – Michael Pribich
Lift, installation with used hand-trucks outfitted with chrome extensions, and support belt. Lift was part of the exhibition Backstitch at Verge Center for the Arts 2019-20 which culminated the Ali Youssefi Project / Residency. The residency and exhibition ended abruptly because the pandemic was beginning in the United States.
https://www.vergeart.com/exhibitions/ali-youssefi-project-residency-exhibits-jodi-connelly-and-michael-pribich/ . A digital and hard copy catalog are available if you would like to see more.
Essential, 2020, 30 x 30 x 17″ (detail of larger installation with suspended gloves), brown cotton work gloves over steel rod armature . Essential will be included in the upcoming exhibition Vida, Muerte, Justicia (Life, Death, Justice) at the Ogden Contemporary Arts in October 2021. Ogden Contemporary Arts . The show is curated by Jorge Rojas and Maria Del Mar Gonzalez.
Black Support 2021, interlocking leather support belts suspended with chain. Belts made with two color leather with sewn mirror inlay. Black Support was made in May 2021 in Mexico while participating in the 360 Xochi Quetzal Residency in Chapala and Guadalajara. I work with talabartero (saddle maker) Victor Parra to make support belts.
1521: While in Guadalajara I did research on the history of African slaves brought to Mexico. My mother’s family is from Chihuahua and I want to know more about this history. Around the year 1521 Africans slaves were brought to present day Vera Cruz to work as slave laborers including work in the silver mines and sugar cane fields. This work continues with drawings and different versions of support belts.
Paper Support, Work in progress using paper bags used for holding cement. The cement bags weigh 90 lbs, so the paper is heavy. I will continue this work at NARS RESIDENCY in Brooklyn beginning 7-1.
I continue research into the movement of African slave into Mexico, around 1521, as well as NYC labor. (Across the street from my Canal St studio is a Chinese pasta factory that each night throws out huge bundles of brown paper bags used for holding 50lb flour sacks.) Slave labor in Mexico, present day Chinese labor on Canal St are part of the under-recognized work force building the new world.
Michael Pribich
sky7@mindspring.com
www.michaelpribich.com