“Spontaneous City” by London Fieldworks,

Rafael Sánchez, Tree of Heaven

Signs are everywhere, and objects have a life that stems from the atomic level. Rafael Sánchez’ exhibit Tree of Heaven, which is up at Marlborough Gallery Viewing Room until December 22, vibrates with motion, beauty, and storytelling—the room radiates an energy...warming...inviting.

Ever since first meeting Rafael, I noticed he’s in tune with an ability to sense communications from objects and their surroundings. I felt comfortable right away with this shared quality, as poetry often stems from the acknowledgment of ethereal communication.

Art is a shamanic, poetic practice. The objects created—or found, nurtured, and transmuted—intuitively find a place within a landscape of the mind, and later the landscapes of installations, performance, exhibits….

Tree of Heaven is the result of a practice of intention.

After Rafael’s partner, the artist Kathleen White, passed away in September 2014, Rafael went into a time of mourning that included a hiatus from drawing. Fast forward to spontaneous drawing circles (‘Magic Mirror’) at Joel Handorff’s place, and New Year’s Eve 2016-2017. Joel and I had made dinner, and Rafael came over with Gail (Thacker). After dinner, and past midnight, we all sat and did portraits and drawings of objects.

Rafael did a drawing of chairs, I did a drawing of Gail that ended up in the show Rafael curated in Provincetown at AMP Gallery, The form is stone, the dress is rain. It was a momentous evening. Rafael drew a thickly multilayered circle with an orange crayon on a notebook, and this became the genesis of a process that would lead to the piece Sun (w/ splinter), where he applied yellow crayon over and over and ended with a gilded splinter falling serendipitously into place.

Weather Station II sits like a ballerina in the middle of the Marlborough Viewing Room, the latest in a series of pieces that continue Rafael’s work with umbrellas, and balloons. With “arms” extended, the installation unifies a pair of performance shoes and a Pink Jar—full of razors used to prepare for performances—with Ghost Dance, a form emerging on paper from strawberry juice.

The eye moves towards 3 Jars, a piece comprised of three honey jars with objects, an intuitive exercise which arose out of dealing with having become HIV+. Rafael told me the jars, with their mysterious content that evolves through time, are batteries: “They are obviously storage vehicles—the meaning and behavior of what is inside intensify over time. Unlike ‘useful’ batteries, as communication vessels these gain power over time. Joseph Beuys made a piece called Capri Battery with a yellow light bulb that plugs into a lemon…the idea of energy and transmission is very clear and I think of that work as a relative to the honey jars. I guess it is not too far-fetched to think of all the medicinal ramifications that can also be associated with the materials.”

Rafael’s book stand, which he started with Kathleen and sets up when he feels like it, across the entrance to his home, is half actual point-of-sale and half installation. The folding tables are open tableaux where Rafael places objects, books, and creations in a constant experiment of association and context.

One night, while visiting the book stand, Rafael was sitting next to a curious lightbulb sitting on a mason jar filled with rubber bands, which he explained he had found and collected from the sidewalks. He told me this was a new sculpture and asked me how does one say ‘mason jar’ in Spanish. I figured ‘tarro de albañil,’ so the piece became Tarro de albañil con ligas rojas y bombillo.

I had a new notebook and made a drawing of the sculpture with my blue rollerball pen while sitting at the stand. I realized, as I made the lines of the drawing, how the process was exactly analogous to writing poetry...the meshing and placement of the lines would change them in the same way as words change on a page.

Rafael graciously included the drawing in the show, placing it next to his sculpture. He also included a Polaroid of him by Gail, who has captured myriad moments of Rafael’s performances and life moments, generating more artistic layers.

A grove of intentions, energized objects doing their quiet work...dynamic and emanating, Tree of Heaven amply demonstrates that well-being, a heavenly state, is here among us if we take a moment to stop and perceive.

In the photo with Rafael I’m wearing a Levi’s shirt customized by Mom and Gloria, and Engineered jeans; Jimi’s amulet necklace; Agnes de Garron hat; and Dominic’s mom’s t-shirt as an undershirt. In the photo below, I’m wearing a vintage Katherine Hamnett shirt and Sabine Be ‘be happy’ frames outfitted by Artsee.