The Earth is a Body in Transition | ESO MALFLOR

In their first full-building show at HAIR+NAILS, the artist applies their technique of drawing with fire — its smoke, soot, and resin — to both paintings on paper and the building itself. They reflect on the practice of controlled burns; how a seemingly harmful act can help restore and regenerate an ecological system while preventing much larger catastrophes in the future. The subjects of their paintings include transexual bodies (individuals, including the artist, who have medically transitioned via hormone replacement therapy and/or gender affirming surgery) in addition to scenes of landscapes and political uprisings.

IN THE ARTIST’S WORDS:

“And just as organisms live on other organisms, I am lived on as well.” Our inability to see the land as an intrinsic part of us and vice versa contributes to our violent divisions; racism, transphobia, and war, among others. In ‘The Earth is a Body in Transition,’ I create material, ritual, and visual parallels between the human body and the earth body, using my experiences and worldview as the main site of investigation. The paintings and installations in this exhibition explore the relationship between trans bodies and the earth. They demonstrate how I and my ancestral lands meld, and how, ultimately, to be human is to be of nature — in all its queerness and complexity.

ARTIST BIO:

ESO MALFLOR (b. 1994, Houston TX) is a conceptual artist working across drawing, painting, sculpture, video, photography, installation, and performance. They are based in Mníssota (Minnesota) on the homelands of the Dakota people. Their work has been shown at Franconia Sculpture Park, Rochester Art Center, HAIR+NAILS Gallery, Clamp Light Gallery, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Museum, among others. Residencies include oak spring garden foundation (2024), The Medium Arts (2022), Blue Mountain Center (2018), and the Vermont Studio Center (2017). They are represented by HAIR+NAILS Gallery.

ESO MALFLOR has previously exhibited with HAIR+NAILS (under the name Kieran Myles-Andrés Tverbakk) as part of group shows Painting Show (2022), The Human Scale (Rochester Art Center, Rochester MN, 2021), RIGHT NOW (2020) and their solo show But The Skin Of The Earth Is Seamless (2021).
www.malflor.art
Instagram: @esomalflor

ESO MALFLOR — The Earth is a Body in Transition coincides with and is a stop on tour of Twin Cities Art Week. Info coming soon at www.tcartweek.org

GALLERY HOURS:
Thursdays/Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays: 1:00- 5:00
Also, appointments can be scheduled via hairandnailsart@gmail.com.

Images:

Left - ESO MALFLOR Helderberg Nature Reserve (2024) soil, water, charcoal, and soot from burning palo de ocote on paper. 72”x 60”

Right - ESO MALFLOR Minneapolis’ Third Precinct (2024) soil, water, charcoal, and soot from burning palo de ocote on paper. 72”x 60”