Sherwin Rio: As Above So Below

Guided Tours, Fridays

December 3 - February 25, 2023

2:00 PM and 4:00 PM

Sherwin Rio is an interdisciplinary artist working in San Francisco who makes site-specific and research-based work in sculpture, installation, video, performance, and audio. For his exhibition at 500 Capp Street, Rio is inspired by Ireland’s affinity for enclosure, particularly his deep interest in the House’s basement, a space Ireland called “The Grotto” where he sourced dirt for his work and spent many hours in solitude.

Framed by Ireland’s dual relationship to architecture above and below, Rio is creating works that provide alternative, inverse ways of experiencing a house—indebted to the past, the unseen, and the underground.

In one work, Rio opens up the floorboards to reveal a hidden stairwell and extends it, in plexiglass, into the Solarium room above. Rio also finds inspiration in Ireland’s basement, in the network of pipes and electrical conduit, and merges this with an artwork that Ireland made by recording the sound of the pipes and walls. Rio’s sculptural sound installation transmits and amplifies vibrational sound within the House–creaking floorboards, movement of doors, the thudding of feet on stairs. “I see these items–webs of ABS, PVC, unistrut, wood, and conduit–as the veins that bring lifeblood to the house, preserving its ability to function–a need that preceded Ireland and continues into the future,” writes Rio.