Welcome to Santo Poco!
Cristina Grajales Gallery
New York
Hail Storm, 2018, Collection Parrish Art Museum.
November 1, 2018 - January 2019
Cristina Grajales Gallery
152 West 25th Street, 3rd floor, New York
Cristina Grajales Gallery presents a solo exhibition of new works by Steven and William Ladd. In Welcome to Santo Poco!, 2018, Steven and William Ladd welcome you to their new world, a series of works inspired by the beginning of their journey to build a studio in the woods of upstate New York.
As emerging artists, the brothers focused their work on shared memories, with solo shows that explored their early childhood, the home they grew up in, the schools they attended and the people and experiences that shaped who they are today. In 2017, the dream of a lifetime was realized with the acquisition of 19 acres of raw land in the Hudson Valley. A pond. A stream. Ant mounds. Chopping down trees with a chainsaw. Camping through the winter in freezing temperatures. Sitting around a 15-foot bonfire one night, they realized “the time is now!” and in that moment a shift occurred where they began looking to the present and the future as the inspiration for their work. They named the land Santo Poco (Little Saint) and see themselves as the Two Kings of Santo Poco!
Their new works, like a miniature ant hill made of beads and wire and a beaded shed, each speak to their experiences of encountering giant ant mounds on the land and their dreams of building little sheds to protect them from the elements. Using their past life experiences and works as the strongest of foundations, the brothers now establish themselves in a new world, balancing the beauty and uncertainty of nature with their continued life and work in the city.
