Ficus Interfaith
Ryan Bush, B. 1990, Denver. Lives and works in New York.
Raphael Martinez Cohen, B. 1989, New York. Lives and works in New York.
Modern terrazzo—a composite material made of stone chips set in a binder—was invented by Venetian artisans in the 15th century. By the 1920s, it was a widely favored flooring material in the United States and, a century later, it inspired a ubiquitous pattern slapped on everything from suitcases to notebooks. But in the hands of Ficus Interfaith, terrazzo is something else altogether. The Queens-based duo of Raphael Martinez Cohen and Ryan Bush employs the material to make curious sculptural objects that playfully disregard distinctions between fine art, design, and craft.
Such works include the cement piece Infinite Jest Doorstop (2024), a fake version of David Foster Wallace’s famously hefty tome, and Stop (2021), an octagonal work that mimics a stop sign with fragments of deer bones spelling out the titular directive. These works are cheeky, but the duo can be cerebral, too: “Furniture Music,” their solo exhibition on view at P·P·O·W in New York through August 14th, is inspired by the work of French composer Erik Satie. The low tables and wall vases featured in the show emphasize both form and function—echoing ideas about passive and active viewership found in Satie’s musique d’ameublement compositions, which were meant to be experienced as background music.
Bush and Cohen met while studying painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and began collaborating in 2014. Together, they have had solo exhibitions at Nina Johnson in Miami and Deli Gallery in New York, among others.