Ignited States of America
FRANCESCA BIFULCO: Ignited States of America
October 5 - November 2, 2024
Bermudez Projects, Los Angeles
Exhibition Press Release:
BERMUDEZ PROJECTS is excited to present Francesca Bifulco: Ignited States of America, a dynamic, immersive solo exhibition born in the wake of the current socio-political upheaval wreaking havoc across the United States. In her new body of work – comprised of paintings, sculpture, installation, and performance – Bifulco expands on her 2020 series with an unbridled fury that is as aggressive and striking as the very topics she investigates.
Spanning the systemic injustices, racism, and political turmoil that have long plagued the nation, Bifulco tears the Band-Aid off and confronts us with a series of inequities dating back to the Indigenous Peoples to the event that incited this series: the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
“In the summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter marches were echoing throughout America in the name of George Floyd: large gatherings pounding the streets; their bodies and voices out, in spite of the new rules of personal safety imposed by the pandemic, for a shared cause,” Bifulco says in her artist statement.
Two monumental paintings were created at the time – The Pursuit of Madness and Ignited States of America – each portraying American citizens, friends, neighbors, and families rapt in the melee of a bifurcated America, powerfully rendered in Bifulco’s razoredge style. The sharp, frenetic lines parallel the painting’s chaotic scenery, exacerbating the contentious political landscape.
Now, with 10 new paintings created as altarpieces, along with mini altars, text-based votive candle holders, and more, Bifulco navigates far more aggressive waters, chronicling some of the US’s most divisive topics – abortion, gun violence, war, White nationalism, Christian fundamentalism, LGBTQIA+ rights, Indigenous Peoples, racism, and political hypocrisy.
“In this series, I return to my subject of people focusing on the power of plurality against social distress. Scorched sacred altars encapsulate snapshots of past and present histories, immortalizing socio-cultural warfare, trauma and survival,” says Bifulco. “Clubbing atmospheres, immersive theater acts and performances bless the space with rhythms of equality, solidarity and collective liberation. The viewer is immersed in a staged dimension of Good vs. Evil to contemplate its fair share of blood, wounds, and deaths.”
This “staged dimension” is the gallery itself, transformed into a sacred, church-like space replete with darkened interior and affective lighting. Sculptural elements concentrated in The Crypt, along with scheduled performances during the run of the show both on the Apse-Stage – where the concept of disco and clubbing plays out – and throughout the gallery heighten the experience, adding tension between the contemplative-inducing details of the paintings and the multisensory elements of the space.
Bifulco adds, “Through this allegorical scenic architecture that blends medieval symbols and mysterious forces, I examine the facets of a new resistance that is protesting the present by pulling back the curtain on the inner structures of injustice, oppression, and power play of America’s shameless preaching machine.”