Gods & Designers:
These sculpture-crowns are part of my "Gods & Designers" series, which is based primarily on ideas of social class. I was particularly interested in making an object that represents the blurring of social classes in contemporary society.

  I use familiar luxury brands, such as Hermes and Tiffany's, and ceramics crowns made of porcelain with a high-gloss black glaze. By combining imagery of our contemporary society (the luxury brands) with a historical symbol (the crown) I'm interested in displaying a timeline in the development of the visual imagery we associate as social upper class.

  Furthermore, I employ the color black as the color that defines pop culture in my view. The crowns are made out of a breakable material atop luxury cardboard boxes accessible to anyone willing to consume the brand; both of these qualities are my way of representing the blurring of social classes and the fragility that the upper social class seemingly faces today.



El Museo Del Barrio – 5th Annual S-Files Biennale:
Reinaldo Sanguino's sculptural works resemble the accoutrements of European royalty - and by visual extension, the abundant Miss Universe crowns garnered by light-skinned Venezuelan contestants - and speak to the narrow contours of national identities in multiracial and class-tired societies. Precious materials and stones that traditionally adorn these objects give way to black ceramic that can allude to the national treasure of Venezuelan oil and marginalized non-white populations.