A cactus featuring a grinning mask greets visitors to Raul de Lara’s New York solo show debut at Chelsea’s Ethan Cohan Fine Art, but beneath the apparent levity are the hard realities of the artist’s migrant experience. Though he employs humor to lift his audiences’ spirits, de Lara reveals the frustration and anxiety of life as DACA recipient in his autobiographical sculptures. Surprising juxtapositions of forms, like this school desk studded with dangerous cactus needles, energize the work and, in this case, recall how the artist was hit on the hand by nuns at school who punished him for being left-handed. De Lara gets the last laugh here by lodging a piece of gum under the desk, a mini act of rebellion. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 17th by appointment. Masks and social distancing are required.)
Raul de Lara, For Being Left-Handed, 2020, Pine, Chiclets Gum, Acrylic, Brass, Steel, Particle Board, 27 x 12 x 13 in.