Reemerge the Zero Begins Your Life, Eternal Is Your Light

In a series of dazzling installations by artist Raúl de Nieves, the SCAD Museum of Art’s dynamic Jewel Boxes are transformed into a kaleidoscopic terroir, in which majestic depictions of the body take hold.

Utilizing the distinct encasement-like structure of the Jewel Boxes, de Nieves positions his sculptures as allegories within shrines, invoking the sanctity of spaces of reverence. The artist uses the body as a foundation for his sculpture, through which he sublimates spiritual energies into agendered anthropomorphic representations. These bodies, both two- and four-legged, distinctly possess a hauntingly still sense of revelry.

The artist’s proclivity toward magical thinking, ritual, and the supernatural is palpable in his chosen motifs, which include the Wheel of Life, Tarot’s wildly powerful character of The Fool, as well as chromatic delineations of the seven chakras. De Nieves limns the spiritual through an amalgamation of mystic traditions, all of which come together via his distinctive technique of beadwork and decorative embellishment. Through his decadent use of plastic beading, sequins, and common textiles, de Nieves defies material hierarchies and indulges in a celebration of life with glamorous adornments of the somatic form.

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