ICA Ramp Project: You go first by Arturo Herrera

March 2 - April 21, 2002


Arturo Herrera, You go first, 2001. Interior view of the ICA ramp. Latex paint. Courtesy of the artist and Brent Sikkema, New York. Photo: Adam Wallacavage.
You go first, a wall painting by Arturo Herrera, is the first in a series of commissioned projects for the 52-foot ramp corridor that connects the first and second floors of the ICA.

Although the three-part wall painting can be seen by pedestrians on 36th Street, the viewer's experience of walking either up or down the ramp has been integral to Herrera's conception of this project. The dark to light tones created by the artist's large paintbrush-like strokes keep pace with the viewer and echo the visitor's passage from the tunnel-like lower level entrance, to the bright, naturally lit upper portion. The large swathes of color also match the rhythm inherent in the earthy red divides of ICA's trapezoidal 36th Street window.

Inspired by Disney cartoons, advertising, and art history, the Venezuelan-born Herrera uses a hybrid line that moves between references to animation and traditional painting. At the ramp's turn the viewer meets their own surrealist portrait, a hybrid character based on cartoons and figures from abstract painting and design, complete with stockinged feet.

Herrera's work will be in the Whitney Museum of American Art's 2002 Biennial Exhibition and has been widely exhibited around the country, including solo projects and exhibitions at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2001); The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2001); P.S. 1/MoMA, Long Island City, NY (2000); ArtPace, San Antonio, TX (2000); Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (1999); The Art Institute of Chicago, IL (1998); The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, IL (1998); Worcester Art Museum, MA (1998); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. IL (1995) and the Drawing Center, New York, NY (1994).

ICA acknowledges the generous support of The William Penn Foundation for this project. Additional funding support has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Dietrich Foundation Inc., the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art, friends and members of the ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania. (Information complete as of 2/1/02.)


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