Ficus Interfaith is an artistic duo based in New York City. Ficus Interfaith is a collaboration between Ryan Bush (b. 1990, Denver, CO) and Raphael Martinez Cohen (b. 1989, New York, NY). Bush and Martinez Cohen have been working together since 2013.
Education Bush and Martinez Cohen met at the Rhode Island School of Design where they both received BAs in painting.
Career
Exhibitions Solo Exhibitions
Furniture Music, P·P·O·W Gallery, NY, 2025 Chabudai, Chabudai, Numano Hashi, in Tokyo, Japan 2024 Grand Central Treehouse, at Deli Gallery, NY, 2023 Ficus Interfaith, Jack Chiles, New York, NY, 2019 Frame House Whereabouts, Interstate Projects, Brooklyn, NY, 2018 Summer Terrazzos, Prairie, Chicago, IL, 2018 Flower Bat Mullion, From The Desk of Lucy Bull, Los Angeles, CA, 2018 Ficus Interfaith, Gern En Regalia, Ridgewood, NY, 2017
Selected Group Exhibitions "Objects for a Heavenly Cave"- Marta, Los Angeles, CA, 2024 "Residual Energies" - Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami, Fl 2024 "Los Angeles Bar" - "Second Pour," In Lieu, Los Angeles, 2024 Local Objects, International Objects, New York, NY, 2023 From Cellar to Garret, South Parade, London, 2020-2021 Theorem X, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, 2021 Red Root, Green Root, The Valley, Taos, New Mexico 2021 Dear John, Adams and Ollman, Portland, 2021 No Place, P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York, 2020 In Practice: Total Disbelief, SculptureCenter, NY, 2020 Rubus Armeniacus (Himalayan blackberry), Jessica’s Apartment, New York, NY, 2019 Downturn, Sibling, Toronto, Canada, 2019 The Nourishment, From The Desk of Lucy Bull, Los Angeles, CA, 2019 RESET, Kai Matsumiya, New York, NY, 2019 At the End of the Game You Will Be Forgotten, Alyssa Davis Gallery, New York, NY, 2018 The Earth is a Trampled Garden, Brooklyn, NY, 2018 Dangerous Together, Prairie, Chicago, IL, 2018 Progress Beyond Reason, MX Gallery, New York, NY, 2017 dccon1: narrabantur, U.S. Blues, Brooklyn, NY, 2016
Residencies Salmon Creek Farm, Albion, CA 2024 Numano Hashi, A Tokyo, Japan 2024 Clay Club, Sculpture Center, Queens, NY, 2018 Artists in Residence, Shadaken Projects: Storm King, New Windsor, NY, 2018 Artists in Residence, 2727 California Street, Berkeley, CA, 2018
Style and technique In the mid-2010s, Ficus Interfaith began working with terrazzo, a cementitious composite material, usually used in flooring. Ficus Interfaith's sculptures explore the creative possibilities of the terrazzo technique which is more commonly found in public or municipal spaces. In addition to their free standing and wall-mounted terrazzo sculptures, Ficus Interfaith make site-specific terrazzo installations. Ficus Interfaith use typical and atypical materials in their terrazzo including but not limited to peach stones, oyster shells, the royal blue glass of Saratoga Water bottles, petrified wood, marbles, pits, deer bones, and walnuts.
Since December 8, 2014, Ficus Interfaith has maintained a WordPress blog titled My Brothers Garden.
The name Ficus Interfaith comes from the "fig tree genus and the allure of spirituality."
Ficus Interfaith work out of a studio in Queens, NYC. For Bush and Martinez Cohen, the Ficus Interfaith entity functions as a third distinct voice. In a December 2023 interview with ARTnews, Ficus Interfaith stated "most of our pieces operate as paintings."
Ficus Interfaith's art is informed by their formal training in painting. Ficus Interfaith credit many inspirations including: craft objects, Rhizofiltration, SpongeBob, The Timeless Way of Building, Rockwell Kent, homosocial behavior, and Pinocchio.
References
External links https://www.instagram.com/ficusinterfaith/ My Brothers Garden - Ficus Interfaith blog