Locust Projects is proud to present SAVE YOUR SELVES, the first exhibition of Miami-based HUFFER COLLECTIVE (David Anasagasti, Jason Handelsman and Jacob Katel).

A three-sided pyramid—a metal framework with rows of wood shelving—rises from the project space, where the collective’s three artists each populate the structure with objects that define the shifting stages of their lives; an altar in reverence to their personal memories. These votives, offerings and relics take the form of found objects including bootleg video tapes of 1980s punk icon GG Allin; an urn holding the ashes of a pet dog; a little league baseball trophy awarded to the “Top Hustler” of the 1990 B. C. Bombers team; and a child’s diorama of Stonehenge with a participation ribbon from the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair; among countless pictures, autographed books, and old zines from days past.

SAVE YOUR SELVES is largely autobiographical and itself commemorates nostalgia as a creative practice, examining the types of objects we choose to save or discard; display or store; remember or forget. To this end, HUFFER COLLECTIVE mined their homes, studios and storage spaces for personal artifacts that piece together their individual and collective memories; and, by extension, construct an impression of Miami—as it once was, and how it now exists—through their formative experiences. 

HUFFER COLLECTIVE’s relationship to Miami is inextricable from their stockpile of commemorative material; each object’s origin is grounded in locations scattered around the city, from downtown to Wynwood to Hialeah. Biscayne Boulevard, in particular, is a locus of significance, and many of the artifacts reference the high crime, seedy motels, punk venues, underground clubs and graffiti that once distinguished this stretch of US1 and its surrounding neighborhoods. For the artists, recollection becomes a productive and tangible gesture, weaving multiple threads of memory to construct a cooperative understanding of their context and place: Miami is ultimately the revered motherland sanctified in this collaborative effort. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a limited edition series, Controlled Deliveries, made exclusively for Locust Projects. Each artist created unique objects they refer to as “sculptural tumbleweeds,” that were subsequently mailed to, and altered by, the remaining members. At the end of the loop, these parcels were delivered to Locust Projects with contents unknown, to be opened, or left intact, at their buyer’s discretion. 

HUFFER COLLECTIVE is a collaboration between Miami-based artists David Anasagasti (Ahol Sniffs Glue), Jason Handelsman (The President), and Jacob Katel (Swampdog), founded in 2015. They have previously presented exhibitions and performances at HistoryMiami, between dumpsters on Biscayne Boulevard, and they re-enacted a Mötley Crüe concert’s pyrotechnic display at North Beach Bandshell as part of Death to the Sun 5, among other projects.