Two Horns are Better than One
by Zoe Weisman
It’s a simple equation, devised by Andres Laracuente, local performance artist and SAIC senior:
1 horn (1 unicorn)
+ 1 horn (1 unicorn)
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2 horns (Satan)
According to Pagan mythology, the unicorn had to be captured by a virgin, who would lure the mythical creature to her lap in order to restrain it. Drawing inspiration from this legend, Laracuente created a narrative based on a mirrored image of himself assuming the identity of a unicorn. Together, these two innocent symbols of purity have the power to become pure evil.
In a recent performance at Green Lantern Gallery, Laracuente adopted the identities of Jesus Christ, Charles Manson, himself, and a unicorn. This investment in alternate identities, and his fascination with religion is present in almost all of the Texas-born artist’s work.
Already showing in both Berlin and Paris, the 24-year-old BFA student was raised Catholic by his father. Laracuente recalls: “When my father was growing up in Puerto Rico, he used to admire pictures of Tennessee in his National Geographic. It became a dream of his, to own a ranch there. He worked his whole life to get there.” Laracuente plans to return to Tennessee this summer, where he intends to construct a life-size cross, whittled out of wood. Religion, particularly Catholicism, is a major influence in his work, as well as the notion of the American Dream. “I was playing with the phrase ‘United States of America’ which turned into ‘United States of A Miracle.’ I think that phrase sort of encompasses everything I’m doing right now.”
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Laracuente recently performed in the fifth Annual Select Media Fest kick-off October 13, collaborating with SAIC alumni Brendan Missett as “Missecuente” with their “Time Traveling Lab Mice,” with Bone Thugs N Harmony’s “Crossroads” playing on repeat, Laracuente lay face down in pool of water, long dark hair streaming to the surface. The morbid act was inspired by the depiction of death in movies. Meanwhile, Missett, guised in a comical Sasquatch-like costume, provided the action for the piece. Bunches of hay, pineapples, and colorful plexi-glass cubes surrounded them, giving a sort of rural science-fiction feel.
Laracuente lay still, occasionally squirming in the pool, as Missett made trips to a terrarium containing mice, depositing them inside the plexi boxes, and setting them afloat in the water. Laracuente emerged from the water pallid, face dripping with white paint. Shivering, he stacked the mice beside the pond, the whole while the Bone Thugs bleared “and we pray and we pray, every day every day…”
The piece was a convergence of worlds, Missett contributing the comedic, Laracuente the tragic. In this piece Laracuente played with his identity as a wolf cub, evoking ideas of ferral children, and wildness. The white paint in the water alluded to wolf milk. “I’m young so I’m not really eating meat yet. I’m still on milk,” he stated.
Last summer, Andres Laracuente had his first two solo exhibitions abroad. Melt in the Sun Freeze Underground was a performance by Laracuente and collaborator Matthew Lutz Kinoy in Berlin, which told the epic tale of two slaves in ancient Egypt who must sacrifice themselves for the Pharaoh. “Hell Rave Wave” was an exhibition in Paris that featured sculpture and video. Laracuente made an offering of his old magazines to viewers in a piece called “Jesus Magazine Stand,” in which the magazines acted as the body of Christ.
Laracuente has also been known to fake his own death. In Death 2006, at Lazer Happy Gallery, Laracuente played with the ritual of death, allowing himself to be injected with a tranquilizer before an audience, and poked and prodded by onlookers for an hour. In MySpace Death at “All Tomorrow’s Parties”, a group exhibition organized by Laracuente in 2006, he deleted his Myspace profile publicly as a form of ritualistic suicide. With such an elusive identity, you’ll never know what (or who) to expect from his next experience. His exhibitionist qualities and engagement with the darker side of pop culture make his work accessible. “My work is seasonal and of the moment,” declared Laracuente. “It feels a lot like pop.” |