American Imports
Reniel Del Rosario
January 11, 2020
2PM onwards
Load na Dito, Cubao, Quezon City, Philipines
Reniel Del Rosario works in an expanded ceramics field that combines objects and interactivity. He creates mass-produced goods in a playful recreation full of imprints and inconsistencies. These unique objects (that range from papaya soap to cigarettes to donuts) created in large quantities speak collectively as an antithesis for the love of the manufactured. These ceramic objects are then brought out into public spaces to satirize consumerism through public engagement. This has included setting up impromptu storefronts in public spaces, infiltrating galleries to interact in proximity with high-end art, and tailgating conferences as an unexpected vendor. The public can walk up to these installations and purchase these ceramic objects for the price of their real-life counterparts. For Load na Dito Projects, Reniel has created 200+ ceramic objects based off of objects popular in the Philippines that are either imported (literally and conceptually) from the United States. These objects include ceramic canned goods, luxury clothing and accessories, cigarettes, medicine, and more.
Reniel Del Rosario was born in 1997 in Iba, Zambales, and shortly immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2000 with his family. He achieved an undergraduate BA in Art Practice from the University of California at Berkeley in 2019. His work has been widely shown, including the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, John Natsoulas Gallery, ROW DTLA, and multiple Bay Area galleries. In addition, he has tailgated, infiltrated, and popped-up at numerous California art conventions, show openings, art walks, and museums with permission and without in his own unique art practice style. He's one of ten nationwide American recipients of the 2019 Windgate Fellowship, a grant award given to artists pushing the boundaries of craft in America distributed by the Center for Craft. He plans on using the award for researching contemporary and historical objects/records and providing free ceramics programs to the public.