Raul Gonzalez: I got ta’ maintain

About the Performance
Inspired by childhood memories about his mom and Raul’s role a stay-at-home-parent, Main Space artist Raul Gonzalez will spend the day sweeping, Swiffering, scrubbing the gallery floor, and dancing to a curated a playlist. He will also repair and re-apply any damaged tape on the floor. To accompany Raul’s performance, his portable home stereo will fill the gallery with a Spotify list that will be available for public streaming the day-of. The 4-hour performance will also be live streamed on Artpace’s Facebook Page.

Gonzalez’s Artist Statement about the performance
One of my earliest memories of using bright colors was when I was about two or three years old. We lived at my grandparents’ house and my mom was working part-time cleaning offices in downtown Houston. She once brought me home some really nice highlighters that I drew with for weeks. Little did I know that color scheme would continue to evolve throughout my artwork. Here I am in my thirties using bright-neon duct tape to create immersive installation.

For this performance, I want to treat the space as an office or home that needs cleaning, or one that needs maintaining. I can recall Saturday mornings spent cleaning our family’s apartment alongside my mom and two younger sisters. My mom would pop in her cassettes and jam her favorite songs on the home stereo. She often played Tejano, new wave, and pop dance songs.

Now that I’m a stay-at-home-parent, I’ve learned to turn every day into a Saturday. If I’m cleaning our house on a Monday afternoon, I’m creating an environment that makes our kids want to jump in and help.

Photo by Seale Photography Studios