It all started with the canoe. Jorge Lizarazo, founder and creative director of Hechizoo, acquired the humble wooden vessel in the course of working with indigenous communities in his native Colombia. Once used to transport coca leaves on the Putumayo River, it is now an ocean away, covered in thousands of glass beads and hovering over New York’s Cristina Grajales Gallery as the centerpiece of 'Voyages/Explorations', a solo exhibition of work by Hechizoo, on view until the end of January 2014.
'We took the canoe as an element through which we wanted to give these people back their dignity,' says Lizarazo, dressed in a chunky Hemingway-style fisherman’s sweater that hints at his passion for weaving and textures. 'The family of 12 that made this canoe was displaced by violence from the region.' After applying each bead by hand to create intricate geometric patterns on the canoe, they held a going-away party for it.
'The canoe became not just an experiment and a voyage of materials but also a very profound, emotional search as to what did it mean,' says Cristina Grajales, who met Lizarazo a decade ago when he walked into her gallery seeking representation and bearing enchanting textiles (in Spanish, Hechizoo sounds like the word for 'enchantment' or 'bewitching'). Grajales continues, 'This is a very important moment for Hechizoo. Lizarazo and his atelier are taking more risks, learning more about materials, mixing materials in unexpected ways and breaking the boundaries of what’s possible.'
The recent creative surge is apparent in the handmade rugs, tapestries and sculptural objects that transform the gallery into an exuberant Amazon landscape. It's inhabited by tree-like installations in industrial rubber; a wall of engraved-metal leaves; illuminated natural-fibre columns; and a knitted-metal enclosure that hints at Lizarazo’s architectural training (after graduating from University of the Andes in Bogotá, he practiced in the offices of Santiago Calatrava and Massimiliano Fuksas).
He points out reeds from the Amazon embedded into an undulating copper and bronze panel lined in crystal rods before slowly circling the work - his most recent - which arrived via FedEx hours before the exhibition's opening reception. Although it appears to float from the ceiling, it is one of the heaviest pieces he has ever created. 'Here I wanted to make a rug that goes up, becomes a tapestry and then becomes an architectural space, so that a person can walk through it and become part of the piece,' says Lizarazo. 'The show goes from one journey to another.'
View of the wooden 'Inga' canoe from undeneath, hand-covered in glass beads (left) and installation view of a coloured metal stool, with a panel made of copper, crystal and yare.
'El Dorado's Autumn', 2013, consisting of copper and gold- and silver-plated leaves
A panel made of aluminum, blue copper and metallic thread (left) and 'Werregues: Woun, Wouna and Chanco' metal stools (right), 2013.
Installation view of 'El Dorado's Autumn' and a Hechizoo panel made of copper, crystal and yare.
'Tree Surgeon', 2013
A weaver working on 'Tree Surgeon', crafted from rubber and black copper
'Cacho' horn, 2013.
Installation view of Hechizoo's 'Jade' fabric (left), and paired with the 'Neymar Area' rug (right), 2013.
Detail of 'Moreira Rug', 2013.
ADDRESS
Cristina Grajales Gallery
10 Greene Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10013
-
Willy Chavarria: ‘We’re still so stuck in fashion‘s old guard’As part of the August 2025 ‘Made in America’ issue of Wallpaper*, we invited three creative powerhouses to comment on the state of the States. Here, award-winning American fashion designer Willy Chavarria speaks on creative resilience, uniting with activist groups, and shaking up fashion’s old guard
-
Six Indian artists reframe the ladies compartment of a Mumbai local trainAn exhibition by Method (India) at Galerie Melike Bilir in Hamburg explores a gendered space
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s The Fountainhead – a shining example of Usonian design – is now on the marketThis quintessential Wright home – built in a vibrant mid-century neighbourhood – was named after a novel inspired by the architect
-
The dynamic young gallerists reinvigorating America's art scene'Hugging has replaced air kissing' in this new wave of galleries with craft and community at their core
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of societyA new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality
-
‘Her pictures looked like pictures everybody knew were the truth’: Diane Arbus at the ArmoryMatthieu Humery curates more than 400 of Arbus’ photographs at New York’s Park Avenue Armory – every picture she was known to have printed
-
Mystic, feminine and erotic: the power of Penny Slinger’s bodies as landscapeArtist Penny Slinger continues her exploration of the sacred, surreal feminine in a Santa Monica exhibition, ‘Meeting at the Horizon’
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
Photographer Geordie Wood takes a leap of faith with first film, DiversGeordie Wood delved into the world of professional diving in Fort Lauderdale for his first film
-
New book celebrates 100 years of New York City landmarks where LGBTQ+ history took placeMarc Zinaman’s ‘Queer Happened Here: 100 Years of NYC’s Landmark LGBTQ+ Places’ is a vital tribute to queer culture
