“Devoured by Symbols” is a tour through the intersection of advertising sloganeering, pop-cultural dreams and down-home materiality. The pieces contain assemblages of letters and pictures made from felt, cotton or leather sewn onto canvas. Occasionally the letters float freely from their words as in the works “Devoured by Symbols” and “The Diplomat,” making the act of reading far more difficult and conversely far more enjoyable. These two works hang limply on the wall, their wooly letters floating among daisies and stars on dense black backgrounds. The remaining canvases are stretched taut on frames and are configured like advertising slogans or magazine graphics. The letters spell out lyrics like Will Oldham’s line, “a black tinted sunset with the prettiest of skies” or the RollingStones’ “coming colors in the air, oh, ev’erywhere.” The convergence of typography, baby boomer feel-good imagery, fuzzy materiality and tragically romantic quotations leaves the work feeling a bit gloomy like a pile of good wishes unfulfilled. In this they are tied to the contemporary political climate where anxiety builds over America’s waning power and promise and rampant nostalgia for the 1960’s accompanies boomers into retirement through advertising and entertainment. To take the words of her piece “Radiohead,” Guerreo-Macia’s project is compellingly threatening a way that is “broad, looming and non-specific.” (Dan Gunn)
