Nihura Montiel

The Object of My Object

April 9 - May 14, 2022

In Lieu is pleased to announce The Object of My Object, Nihura Montiel’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. Montiel will exhibit a selection of recent charcoal works on canvas.

Nihura Montiel’s work stems from an obsession with details and a concern for the economics of time and materiality. Her practice is characterized by the cross-cut of precision and speed. These charcoals on canvas are Montiel’s very own “dry” paintings. Despite being classically trained in oils, she carves an idiosyncratic path and renders the details in her unique format. 

For her exhibition at in lieu, “The Object of My Object,” Montiel stresses the tension lodged within objects as well as their potential dualities. By doubling cats or mirroring clowns, Montiel represents objects belonging to other objects. She gestures toward the myth of Pandora, a figure who occupies the role of both gift and gift giver- a representation of simultaneity, both sides of a coin. Montiel further implores the viewer to consider his or her own relationship to childhood and the everyday. Montiel notes that the precedents set by Sylvie Fleury and Frida Kahlo figure into her own practice. The work of Fleury provides a foundation for new encounters with common objects and consumer culture as well as a distinct consideration of gender dichotomies. Kahlo, on the other hand, serves as an impetus for Montiel’s abstract emulation. 

The works on view call to mind Sianne Ngai’s theorization of cuteness, “cute” objects denoting a perpetual femininity, one with an infinite return to maternity. Montiel underscores then undercuts the denigration of the cute, complicating preconceptions by inscribing a distinct exactness within her compositions. She also regards Jung’s Anima/Animus archetype, paying special mind to the conceits of the latter. Montiel thus wields this notion of the unconscious masculinity lodged within women to present yet another encounter with multiplicity- the self and objects containing multitudes. 

Montiel’s objects function as signifiers pointing the viewer in all sorts of directions. While they contain their own latent matter and contingencies, each composition is resolutely opened out toward the viewer rather than being self contained or veiled by secrecy. The closer you get to these compositions and the longer you behold their contents, a sense of the uncanny or else pure disgust emerges. Cute surrenders to menace, comfort to repulsion. 

- Reilly Davidson