Absence Fantasia
Mariel Rowling Montes
May 8 – June 7, 2026
Mariel Rolwing Montes, Masses, 2026, 11.25 x 17.5 x 17.5 inches (28.6 x 44.5 x 44.5 cm) Beeswax, birthday candles, chime candles, hub cap
“In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.”
– Marc Strand
Stump Gallery is pleased to present Absence Fantasia, an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Mariel Rolwing Montes. Waxen Christmas village people, frozen figurines selling joy. Balancing pinecones attempting circular unity. Birthday candles rest like cake and our toy house melts into the ground. We dance on our daily scrap: the recycling, the abandoned tires. Redirecting faith toward our small daily acts – dishwater baptism, genuflect over the sweeper.
Tripped up on another gaff, collapsed over cardboard. Commercial illustrations with a promise: a votive candle of a guardian angel, scratch-off lotto ticket. The thickened label gives way: drip, sand, scratch. Keep sorting the trash with diligence, loyal to Sisyphean tasks like the bird’s wobble step held in fresh cement. Frayed discard of the day.
Peer in through the window and search for your own contrition: empty room reflected. Look: here is the crook of my shoulder, that is where I end. Toys are frozen, flesh turned plastic porcelain. Paper dolls. Surrounding structures collapse, he tries to gather his own fragmented reflection and instead meets yours, longing for life. When we leave the room, all the ghosts start singing. Everything fantasia.
Text by Mariel Rolwing Montes
Mariel Rolwing Montes (b. 1994, Brooklyn, NY) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA in studio art from Hunter College in 2025. Rolwing Montes’ work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Blade Study, New York, NY; and Hyacinth Gallery, New York, NY. Montes has participated in selected group exhibitions at Frisson Gallery, New York, NY; Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York, NY; Crisis Galería, Lima, PE; Plum Gallery, New York, NY; The Alcove, Brooklyn, NY; 191 Henry Street, New York, NY; XYZ Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; 205 Hudson Gallery, New York, NY; Serving the People, New York, NY; and Tiber59, Mexico City, MX.
