Arson Destroys Downtown Art

UPDATED: Tigre Maashal-Lively on fire at form & concept: “It’s pretty painful for me to see it like this.”

When artist and Earthseed Black Arts Alliance co-founder Tigre Mashaal-Lively installed their massive sculpture “The Solacii” outside Guadalupe Street gallery form & concept late last month, the looming 21-foot piece added an undeniably intriguing element to the downtown public art-scape.

Over the weekend, however, a different story emerged as employees of the space woke up Sunday to learn someone had set Maashal-Lively’s work on fire overnight, effectively burning down much of the piece at around 11:15 pm Saturday.

“‘The Solacii’ is a queer and Afrofuturist expression of comfort and solace by a local artist of color, and its burning is an undeniable act of violence against the artist and a considerable cross section of their community,” reads a statement from form & concept Director Jordan Eddy and owner Sandy Zane. “The sculpture symbolizes a process of communal grieving: the artists wove ‘The Solacii’s’ robes from personal garments and heirlooms donated by friends, family and community members. This fire is an unspeakable loss for so many.”

Maashal-Lively, who also performs using the name Tigre Bailando, created and executed the piece in collaboration with numerous other artists for Nevada’s annual Burning Man gathering in 2017. In the artist’s statement found on the sculpture’s website, Maashal-Lively says it represents “a race of mythical ancient beings,” and that “‘The Solacii’ has observed the entirety of human history with deep empathy—feeling each exuberant joy and aching pain of our species.”

Eddy tells SFR the gallery captured the arsonist on camera, filed a police report and encourages the public to come forward with any possible information, grainy though the stills of the video may be.

“It comes in waves,” Maashal-Lively tells SFR. “I woke up crying this morning, and there’s still a lot of grief. It’s so easy for one act of destruction to blot out all of the…it’s so easy to see that and feel like ‘Oh, I guess this work isn’t wanted or not valued,’ but there’s been a lot of outreach and support already—folks through social media and friends and people on the street. It’s people expressing what the work has meant for them, how meaningful it was for them, whether they were around from the beginning or if they’ve only experienced [”The Solacii”] in the the last few weeks, and that has been really powerful.”

“We sincerely hope that a dialogue will emerge out of this incident on how Santa Fe as a community can embrace, support and uplift Mashaal-Lively and artists like them who have gifted us with their art,” form & concept’s statement continues. “We feel there is a collective responsibility to support accessible public art, especially by queer artists of color.”

Eddy tells SFR he has spoken with Maashal-Lively about what happens next, though, he notes, it’s a little early to say.

“The piece is a charred figure on a highly trafficked corner, and that’s what it will be for at least a little while,” Eddy explains. “We are starting hopeful conversations about next steps, but there’s nothing that can truly fix this, and that’s OK for now, too. It is telling one story, and then it will tell a different story.”

Maashal-Lively, meanwhile, is still processing.

“I’ve heard some people express the poignancy of the form it’s in now, but for me it’s pretty painful for me to see it like this,” they say. “The name of the piece means ‘solace,’ and the intention was to offer a sanctuary or something that gives people comfort and also inspiration; that allows us to feel all of the hard feelings of what it means to be alive right now, but that also offers some kind of condolence or support to keep going. I hope the work can continue in some way, whether it’s in this form, or some new way. I don’t know what that will look like. That type of thing is often easier said than done.”

Santa Fe Police Chief Andrew Padilla tells SFR an investigation is underway. “Our detectives will continue to review the surveillance footage from [the gallery] and surrounding areas as we head into the work week tomorrow,” he says.