Ficus Interfaith

In Lieu and Ethan Tate Gallery are pleased to present Los Angeles Bar, an exhibition by the NY-based artistic duo Ficus Interfaith. Los Angeles Bar is to the usual bar as truffles are to mushrooms.

The exhibition is a simulated bar that serves real drinks, where the surreal and the tangible converge seamlessly. Various bar tables and counters, signs, stools, and sconces, a nightmarish dining table shaped like a gaping mouth, and a large mural of Hollywood searchlights – all terrazzo – embrace the chaotic yet grand fantasy unique to Los Angeles. Brass picture lights illuminate the wall works, while the clover shaped sconces scattered throughout create small buttons of light, cozy and cold at the same time.

“We love how Los Angeles is not beholden to the dogma of tradition; it’s a messier, clunkier mode of fantasy. Using that sense of freedom as an inspiration we decided to produce a space where a fantasy could play out, simply – a bar,” relays Bush. “But don’t call it a speakeasy.”

“Yes, it’s a bar, a ‘conceptual bar’”, Cohen adds with a smile. “We are using terrazzo as we feel it wants to be used and applying that same pragmatism to the mechanics of an actual bar. It was really challenging considering all the moving parts of a bar as pieces of the exhibition and as pieces of art.

But ultimately, it led us to violently accepting the role of designers. We developed this series of artworks out of that mindset.”

Ficus Interfaith, renowned for their decade-long collaboration, primarily focuses on the art of terrazzo. “Most of our terrazzos function as tables, floors, or like paintings,” Bush says as he points to a terrazzo SpongeBob SquarePants hanging directly above the bar. “We actually made SpongeBob a.k.a. our bartender almost a year ago, as a standalone wall work. On the other hand, we made all the furniture works at the same time, and they all share the same terrazzo mix, visually functioning as a sort of wallpaper, covering the space and creating an immersive terrazzo environment – well except for the open mouth table I guess – that's a wall work and a table.”

The terrazzo pieces in the exhibition certainly serve as more than just artworks. Cohen adds, “for most people, the distinction between fine art and design relates to objects that are functional vs. non-functional, and while some of our terrazzo works ‘function’ as tabletops or seats, the larger function of the show is to serve drinks, the art acting as a scaffolding for that performance. Once the stage is set, what happens happens. Form follows function in a playful and confusing way for us.”

Accompanying the terrazzo works are laser- etched wine glasses, matchbooks, and a collectible set of printed napkins that also appear as an artwork framed in the show. “The wine glasses are for sale, $30 each and then you can drink all night for free. We have plastic cups too and well, actually everyone gets to drink for free – but you’ll feel extra special with a Ficus Interfaith wine glass,” says Bush. “We also have peanuts and olives.”

Olive pits and peanut shells appear throughout the terrazzo works, a new aggregate technique for the artists, showcasing their evolving exploration of terrazzo's potential. “At this point we’re concerned less about what we can physically do with terrazzo but more about how we use terrazzo as a technique to arrive at something that pushes our artworks into new places,” explains Cohen. “The menu piece is one of our favorite works in the show because of its function as a chalkboard. It’s an artwork that relays information beyond itself, information that changes with whatever is being served or whatever needs communicating, a dynamic potentiality.”

Ficus Interfaith is a collaboration between Ryan Bush (b. 1990, Colorado) and Raphael Martinez Cohen (b. 1989, New York City). As a sculptural practice, Ficus Interfaith pursues projects that investigate ingenuity and novelty as it emerges from craft. Their research focuses on historical imagery and materials that are ubiquitous to the point of being overlooked or misunderstood. Selected solo exhibitions include In Lieu (Los Angeles), Deli Gallery (New York), and Prairie (Chicago). Selected group exhibitions include “Noplace” at P.P.O.W. Gallery (New York) and “In Practice: Total Disbelief” at SculptureCenter (New York). In 2022, they were visiting artists at Longform at Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, MI.