"HOST, on view now at The Contemporary Austin, brings together a collection of works that call into question belonging and identity and rejects the idea that state borders are fixed and natural. Using wood endemic to Texas and Mexico, De Lara sculpts potted monsteras sprouting from chains, a schooldesk covered in long spines, and a cactus disguised as a child's rocking horse."
"When I make my work, I remember childhood memories of when I would see local carvers turn branches into saints. I always wondered at what point inthe carving process does the ghost enters that piece of wood. I strive to make works that invite a certain kind of trust and acceptance from the viewer, that let them live without our realm."
HOST at The Contemporary Austin presents surreal sculptures that merge plants and furniture to interrogate belonging, identity, and the artificiality of state borders. Works use wood endemic to Texas and Mexico and transform familiar objects—potted monsteras chained, a school desk covered in spines, and a cactus made into a child's rocking horse—into uncanny, often unusable pieces such as a spiked ladder. Childhood experience in a family woodworking shop and beliefs in animism and the paranormal shape a practice that treats wood as animated material and frames woodworking as storytelling and magical realism.
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