Bosco Sodi: Básico

Bosco Sodi: Básico brings together Bosco Sodi’s various sources of artistic inspiration as examples of sustainable art making. The exhibition includes a powerful group of paintings titled “Vers l’Espagne”, whose rough surfaces recall creek beds and the footpaths trod by Mexican and Central American immigrants on their way north, as well two new series Sodi made in Mexico in 2020 during pandemic lockdown: large spherical clay sculptures he has called “perfect bodies” and a series of “Sun Paintings” on chili pepper sacks, both fashioned with materials that were readily available at his studio in Oaxaca, Mexico. Also included in the exhibition are small clay sculptures made by local children, the hands-on output of a community art program developed by Sodi’s Casa Wabi Foundation, the non-profit art and community-education complex the artist founded eight years ago on Mexico’s Oaxacan Coast. Among the messages of the exhibition: challenging times demand a return to what is Básico—art, community, and education. Bosco Sodi: Básico is curated by Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator-at-Large; organized by the USF Contemporary Art Museum.