Juan José Barboza-Gubo represented by Praise Shadows

Juan José Barboza-Gubo, Retorno, 2022

Juan José Barboza-Gubo, Desborde, 2024

Juan José Barboza-Gubo is a Peruvian artist based in Lima and Boston. The artist draws inspiration and natural materials directly from the Peruvian jungle. Praise Shadows Art Gallery presents Retorno, a hand-carved boat that the artist sourced from the Amazon river and enveloped in found wood, carved acrylic, and cement leaves. Extending nearly eight feet long and six feet tall, the sculpture cascades onto the floor as if moored along the natural detritus on the banks of a river. The boat invites its viewer to imagine a journey. Is the boat being reclaimed by the jungle, newly reincarnated in its vegetated form as a spiritual totem of the river bank? Does it hold memories of voyages in the Amazon river, gliding alongside the animals that live abundantly in the habitat? Is it living, dead, or neither? This is the vessel for your voyage.

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