i hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow

erica mendoza

Erica Mendoza is an artist from Jacksonville, FL, living and working as a fabricator and adjunct instructor in Knoxville, TN. She received her BFA in Studio Art/sculpture at the University of North Florida and her MFA in sculpture at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Mendoza was a recipient of the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture award in 2018. Her work has been exhibited throughout the Tennessee area, and recently in NYC, LA, and Chicago. Mendoza has recently served as a Hot Metal Artist in Residence at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, MN, as well as an Artist in Residence at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, FL.

about the exhibition

a sort of dread over something pretty mundane:

something as benign as water,

something as rough as water.

“Just wear a rain coat.”

“Just bring an umbrella.”

It’s hard to prepare for what you don’t know,

And you won’t know until you look outside.

Even then, you could still be wrong.

artist statement

Readily available imagery in the form of smartphone screen captures or familiar domestic objects present both painful anecdotes and tropes of romantic relationships that inspire introspective reflection. These might be my objects, or remind me of my objects, that tell my stories, but I am telling yours too. I endure the monotonous or destructive processes, while the viewer encounters its byproduct; “what’s left:” remnants of heartbreak or impending anguish filtered through a repetition, both in the constant recollection, overthinking and overanalyzing and in the action. The inherent intimacy and pseudo-secrecy of the objects in my work promote an indulgence of voyeurism that encourages a peering through, while acting as a mirror that echoes the relics of your own actions.