WHERE THE BORDERS MEET

A bird flying south, you think he sees this line? Rattlesnake? Javelina? Whatever you got. You think halfway across that line they start thinking different? Why should a man?”

- Chucho Montoya, Lonestar, 1996

ICOSA collective is proud to present Where the Borders Meet, an exhibition of new works by Jonas Criscoe & Mai Gutierrez exploring the cultural connections between Texas and Mexico. Through the use of natural materials, found objects and imagery, each artist expresses existence between the borders. Culturally not one or the other, but both simultaneously. The embodiment of how organic borders form via material, language, color, and form. No hard lines, but a region in between; the soft transition from one body to another.

Jonas Criscoe is an interdisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited throughout the United States, most notably the International Print Center in New York and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Criscoe has also been featured in various art publications, Including Art Lies and New American Painting and has been a Jerome Fellow at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking and a West Prize acquisition recipient. A native of Austin, Texas, he received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and the University of Texas at Austin, and his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Currently, he is on the Faculty of the Art School at The Contemporary Austin and Austin Community College and is a founding member of ICOSA.

Mai Gutierrez is a multi-disciplinary architect and artist living in Austin, TX. She earned her BFA and Masters in Architecture from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2010. As a native of Monterrey, Mexico, she draws inspiration from nature in her work, incorporating elements such as stone, wood, and metal to create an architectural aesthetic. Gutierrez's work has been exhibited in the United States and Mexico. Her current practice consists of architectural and interior design services as well as sculpture and public art.