2019, installation, oil and encaustic on wood panels, metal ball chains on clay sculpture, brass chains, brass pendants, brass candle holders, wood, candles, 11' h x 30' w x 6' d
Esperanza Cortés’s work addresses the ongoing aftermath of colonialism, particularly as it relates to social justice, labor, and cultural heritage, as well as individual and collective memory. The Colombian-born, multidisciplinary artist shares a passion for the mosaic of the Americas and their ever-evolving confluence of cultures, which informs their traditions, rituals, music, dance, and art. She employs a wide variety of materials and artistic methods, combining handmade pieces with reworked found objects to evoke cultural symbols that act as sites of memory. Her work gives form to complicated issues in both aesthetic and poetic ways, often evoking the human body as a symbol and expression of nature, vulnerability, and power. Bejeweled, opulent surfaces draw the viewer into the works, while the shape of skulls and disembodied organs reveal a more sinister reality beneath the façade. Although the jewels and metals that Cortés uses are faux, they are nonetheless enticing and brilliant.
Curator - Gabriel De Guzman
2024, civil war era chair, found metal, metal ball beads, necklace, ball chain, hand made ceramic eyes, bull hide, mule leather, and paint, 62” h x 42 diameter
This work was created during my UCROSS Residency in Wyoming. All of the materials were acquired from the residency or from Sheridan, Wyoming. With the exception of the hand painted ceramic eyes that I have been making since 2010. Mexico ended slavery in 1837. Slavery was an impetus for the Mexican American War. Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory to the USA, including parts of Wyoming. The states with large Mexican populations, are also the places where these Latinos whose DNA is from the same territory where they are deemed illegal.
2016 - 2019, clay, chains, filigree beads, 30” h x 20” w x 10” d
La Mano Poderosa was begun during my 2016 residency at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, LA.
Installation, 40 lbs strung glass beads, brass beads, brass chandelier,
5 plaster & wire mesh flowers, silk flowers, cotton blooms
13’ x 4 ‘ diameter
2010 - 2023, 13 clay sculptures covered with crystals, glass beads, and cut glass, metal base., 66” x 26” x 10”
Emerald Tears mirrors the conflict that is reverberating in many countries once colonized for their natural resources, such as my birthplace Colombia. The work is a repository for the cruel system of oppression and violence, carried out in the name of wealth by the mineral excavation industry. The imbedded beads that cover Emerald Tears shimmer in artificial light, a beautiful effect that fetishizes the forms within and convey a dark truth about their origin. The minerals juxtaposed against the human form's fragile nature, emerge as intricate, intimate repositories for collective memory while implementing the body as a symbol and expression of nature, vulnerability, and power. This work raises critical questions about the politics of erasure and exclusion.
2016 - 2019, gold leafed chandelier, 1200 feet of gold plated jewelry chain, brass beads, glass beads, crystal beads, brass pendants, velvet, 18' l x 7' dia.
Part of the 2019 Canté Jondo solo exhibition at the Smack Mellon gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2018, clay sculpture, chains, metal base
Encaustic and oil paint on wooden panel, jewelry chains, and semi-precious stones on clay sculpture, 36” w x 60” l x 5” d
Arrested Symphony addresses assassination as a tool, wielded as a cleansing method for political motives to control people all over South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, robbing nations of their most significant leaders.
Private Collection
2008 - 2018, Installation, table, mirror, 20 glass and metal beaded clay sculptures, 44” h x 54” l x 20” d
Second Sight honors the Curandera (healer) in Latinx culture as a whole as well as the personal connection to my grandmothers who were both curanderas in Colombia. These individuals dedicated their lives to maintaining the physical and spiritual well-being and equilibrium of their families and communities. Each individual piece represents the instruments and fruits of their labors.
Clay sculpture, ball chain, 66” x 22” x 8”
2015, installation, oil and encaustic on wood panels, metal ball chains on clay sculpture, brass chains, brass pendants, brass candle holders, wood, candles, 11' h x 15' w x 6' d
The theme of injustice extends as an important continuum in my work. It exposes commodity industries that are dependent upon abusive practices that commenced during the colonization of the Americas.
2016, chandelier, gold leaf, 1000 feet of gold plated jewelry chain, brass beads, glass beads, 16' l x 6' dia.
Empire was created during my 2016 residency at Sculpture Space in Utica, NY.
2014, clay sculpture, metal ball chain, wood, 6’ l x 2’ h x 1’ d
The black heart mourns the Indigenous and African populations massacred for the retrieval of wealth while gold chains cascade down and away from it. These objects serve as a metaphor for the cruel system of oppression and violence carried out by the mineral industry, whether they are mining gold in Brazil, blood diamonds in Sierra Leone, or emeralds in Colombia. The chains form a sort of bridal train that bears in mind the unions forced upon Indigenous peoples that lay the groundwork for much of the gendered, sexual, and racial politics found throughout Colombia today.
2014, clay sculpture, emerald shell chips, wood, 20” l x 24” h x 20” w
“Cumbia” takes its name from the Afro-Latin dance and music which originated in Colombia's Caribbean coastal region around 1648 and was originally danced in shackles. “Cumbia” highlights the exploitation and utilization of human capital within the gem and mineral industries. In Colombia, while the emerald industry and its international demand are at an all-time high, they are also at the center of funding the ongoing civil conflict. The clay sculpture represents a Zambo woman (African and Indigenous) of this era. In warfare, among the first assets to be plundered are women. Separated from its body, the head serves as a symbol for the spiritual and intellectual strength that these women and their culture possessed and the colonizers had no claim to. Emerald shell chips embedded above the left eye are a reminder of the history of cultivation that predates the arrival of the Spaniards. The sculpture lies upon a wooden bench found in an abandoned factory in New York City, a relic from a bygone era.
2010 - 2014, 6 clay sculptures covered with crystals, glass beads, and cut glass, metal base.
2014, oil and encaustic on wood and canvas, axe, brass chain, 11’ l x 4’ h x 2’ w