Tai Vugia
Alpine, Right Now!

Alpine, Right Now!

Alpine, Right Now! is a show about paper and paint.  Alpine, Right Now! is about a fondness for the mountains. Alpine, Right Now! is about ecology and displacement. Alpine, Right Now! is about filling a small space with a big, silly object.

A seasonal land steward by trade, my artistic practice is at the whim of ongoing seasonal transition. This body of work, undertaken as conclusions overlapped with new beginnings, was conceived and constructed in a hodgepodge of kitchens, backyards, parking lots and tents. Fashioned from wrinkled desert newspapers and hardware store scroungings, this alpine tableau is rooted in straightforward craft and found materials. It is a project born of its transient context: a project  which  captures and clings to  — as though it were a gift  shop keepsake— the memory of mountains before they, too, change.

Impressions of peaks paper the walls, while  sculptures of stewardship gear and wildlife populate  the room. Conspicuously, the big pika sits in the center. Within the intimate space of Queen, this curated and kitsch slice of the alpine is meant to be visited. However, the show channels the contradictory ethos of modern conservation: where notions of absolute preservation run counter to visitor enjoyment, and more serious discussions don’t block the view.

This paper pulp memory asks only for your passing interest in its goofy and peculiar spectacle. Wander through, take photos, and continue on with life— any consideration beyond that is up to you.

—Tai Vugia

Tai Vugia

Tai Vugia is a sculptor and painter currently based near Joshua Tree, CA. Their recent work examines public land management, shifting ecologies, and seasonal change. An alumni of Western Washington University and recent Artist in Residence in Whiskeytown, CA, Vugia produces a range of work across various media in often impromptu studio spaces, occasionally yielding giant pikas.