50/50 for the Record, a solo presentation of new work by Venezuelan-born ceramic artist Reinaldo Sanguino, celebrates 50 years of his life and more than 30 years of his artistic creation in New York City. Featuring a collection of 50 plates – one to represent each year of the artist’s life – 50/50 for the Record is a meditation on life and art, and the ways in which the two intertwine. Sanguino imbues his ceramics practice with his intuitive explorations of color, forming a gestural portrait of time as it moves forward, recording the fluid shifts of energy and disposition by which it is defined. Sanguino’s work has always been marked by a fascination with the tactile qualities of his medium, and with these plates it will take on a new dimension, offering a kaleidoscopic perspective of what it means to celebrate—body and spirit functioning in tandem, contributing equally to the process of creation. 

Sanguino’s expressive, textural signature in his ceramic sculptures and collectible furniture, originates in 1993, when Sanguino immigrated to New York City. Using clay as both structure and canvas, the artist has become known for creating pronounced, one-of-a-kind pieces marked by their freely worked surfaces and variety of rich colors and patterns, which are integral to their forms, capturing the ineffable energy of New York. The presentation will pay tribute to a vibrant five decades of life, three of them spent in New York City, using this body of work to encapsulate the history that has established itself between him and the city, and the sense of community he found.

“As I reflect on my career and time in the city, I wanted to create a body of work that encapsulates this period with a symbolic potency. The plate is one of the simplest ceramic forms, carrying so much cultural and social meaning; I was interested in abstracting it from its function, in the same way that the number assigned to an age is also often an abstraction. I decided to take a symbolic approach to both; separately each of the plates represents a unique expression of my experience as a sculptor, and together they form a portrait of my career to date,” says Reinaldo Sanguino. 

In addition to the collection of plates, which will be exhibited in the gallery’s lush backyard, new works in styles the artist developed throughout his career will be exhibited throughout the townhouse. 

See the works on view at The Future Perfect’s New York gallery through beginning of August.