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The Tramp brings together a newly commissioned film, paintings, prints, and installations by Caguiat Delacruz (Justin Caguiat and Rafael Delacruz).
At the heart of the exhibition is a film by Caguiat Delacruz that follows two characters Wesley (and his dog Chips) and Hiroko. As a point of reference, the artists use Charlie Chaplin’s iconic film, The Tramp (1915), which was shot and produced in Fremont, 35 miles south of San Francisco. Caguiat Delacruz find kinship with Chaplin’s beloved character of the Tramp—a mischievous vagrant living on the margins, using playful antics to elide authority figures and trick the elite to survive in a rapidly modernizing society.
The Tramp’s use of play is embodied in Caguiat Delacruz’s own collaborative process. Together, they find a freedom to experiment and push the boundaries of their work to the margins. Softening the borders across mediums, the artists have created an encompassing environment. Deconstructed production sets are repurposed as exhibition furniture and stages, displaying drawings, production stills, paintings, prints, and ephemera, offering space to reflect on both the precarity and the possibility of contemporary life.
Caguiat Delacruz: The Tramp is curated by Daisy Nam, director and chief curator, and Diego Villalobos, former associate curator with exhibition design by Robin Beard. Special thanks to Wattis staff Armaan Mumtaz, Addy Rabinovitch, and MacKenzie Stevens.
Thank you to the artists, Greene Naftali, New York, and Hoffman Donahue, New York and Los Angeles; CCA Print Studio and master printer Courtney Sennish, Anthea Black, Karla Wozniak, Johnny Galvan; CCA students: Kayla Chin, Gabi Dagdag, Leland Mains, Ru Lyons, Barbara Klassen; Chris Paddock; SFAI Archives and Becky Alexander; and Legion Paper.
The exhibition is supported by Teiger Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Bloomberg Connects; Gary Steele and Steven Rice; the Wattis Leadership Circle: Mary and Harold Zlot, and Katie and Matt Paige, and the Curators’ Forum. Phyllis C. Wattis was the generous founding patron.
