Dancing for Rain
Malik Tricoche

Drawing upon a collective history of the use of dance and movement as a spiritual access point Dancing for Rain poetically juxtaposes Malik’s utilization of motion to achieve flow state while painting, not only dancing in front of the canvas but with the canvas, rotating each work 360 degrees and painting from every direction. The phrase “rain dance” refers to the ritualistic nature of human behaviors. Repeating habits make up a pattern of events and relationships that define our sense of time, reality and ultimate sense of purpose. These patterns are the guiding map connecting the lived experience of the artist to the ancient myths of the past and into the future.

About the Artist: 

Malik Muhammad Tricoche b.(1996) is a Puerto Rican-American artist raised in New York. In 2016 he had studied painting and sculpture at the Academia Di Belle Arte in Venice, Italy and in 2018 graduated from the Boston University School of Visual Arts inspiring the very first SVA Character Award representing the values and ideals of the school. In 2019 he founded Guayaba Gallery in Union City, NJ— going on to curate and exhibit shows like “Guayaba01” and “6FT FROM YOU” while working with the Themendous sculpture team on installations for the 2019 MET Gala, NYC fashion week and the Museum of Sex. Throughout his career he has retained the notion that his painting process is a ritual to which he receives spiritual guidance, circumnavigating his position in the social, political economic structures imposed on him. Being heavily influenced by the iconography of Yoruba and European religions and their synchronization that was popularized in the Caribbean and Latin America during the Spanish colonization of the western world; his work now implements an abstract figuration and layering technique to elevate the queer form into that space of divinity to which it has been excluded for so long. By juxtaposing non-binary bodies in a space to be venerated without fetishization his work breaks down the rigid and exclusionary concepts of faith to elevate the queer form. The nebulous compositions are typically painted from every direction allowing the images to slowly reveal more to the viewer over an extended looking period. These visual maps allow the artist to reclaim an authentic spiritual and cultural identity that has been whitewashed by capitalism.

For more information about Malik and his work visit his website and follow him on Instagram.