Exhibitions
MANDY CANO VILLALOBOS: THE LOST STATE
Tri-Star Arts / 4450 Candora Ave., Candoro Marble Building October 22, 2025 - June 30, 2027 (Reception: November 14 5:00pm - 8:00pm)
Mandy Cano Villalobos
Tri-Star Arts directs visitors to the outdoor sculpture on the grounds of the historic Candoro Marble Building. The Lost State by Mandy Cano Villalobos (Grand Rapids, MI) will remain on view through Wednesday, June 30, 2027.
This large sculpture is being placed to sync with the indoor exhibitions on view, extending the conversation outdoors to an accessible public space adjacent to the driveway entrance.
Cano Villalobos states the following about her sculpture, The Lost State:
“The Lost State harnesses the history of the 'state that never was'. Between 1784 and 1788, the people of present-day Knoxville proposed statehood, and were eventually rejected by a newly established U.S. government. This project, a domed colonnade spliced in half, resembles a defunct federal monument forged from metal detritus. Discarded pots and pans, rusted barn roofing, outdated hardware, and other metal bits will slowly corrode over a two year span, highlighting the vulnerability of systems and institutions we believe indestructible. Given America’s current situation, The Lost State is a timely tribute to the liminal space between desire, failure, and our perplexed reality.” - Mandy Cano Villalobos, October 2025
This project has been co-organized and co-curated by Jason Sheridan Brown and Brian R. Jobe.
Mandy Cano Villalobos is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans installation, 2D, performance, and sculpture. Her projects explore ideas of home, memory and cultural identity. Cano Villalobos has exhibited in venues including Bridge Projects (Los Angeles, CA), POSITIONS Art Fair (Berlin, DE), Proyecto T (Mexico City), Proyecto Pikaro (Mexico City), Untitled Art Fair (Miami, FL), Museum Wilhelm Morgner Kunst (Soest, DE), Modern Art Gallery (Veszprém, Hungary), Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (Arlington, VA), Boston Center for the Arts (Boston, MA), The Wellin Museum of Art (Clinton, NY), Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD), Ukranian Institute of Modern Art, (Chicago, IL), Zolla Lieberman Gallery (Chicago, IL), Museum of New Art (Detroit, MI), Hillyer Art Space (Washington, DC), Gray Contemporary (Houston, TX), and La Casa Pauly (Puerto Montt, Chile). Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, ArtNews, The Washington Post, Sculpture Magazine, Hyperallergic, and The Chicago Reader, amongst others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Center for Creative Arts Fellowship, and has been awarded grants from multiple organizations including the Gottlieb, Puffin, Frey, and Chenven Foundations, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Cano Villalobos works in Grand Rapids, MI and Brooklyn, NY.
Tri-Star Arts exhibitions are open to the public regularly from Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 am until 5:00 pm, alongside iconic spaces within the Candoro Marble Building (located in the Vestal neighborhood of Knoxville).
Tri-Star Arts is based at the Candoro Marble Building with its main office, gallery space, and artist studios. Their gallery features exhibitions with a local, state-wide, and national focus on contemporary visual art.
Constructed in 1923, the Candoro Marble Building originally served as the offices and showroom for the Candoro Marble Company. It showcases a Charles Barber-designed Beaux-Arts architectural style, beautiful Tennessee pink marble, and an iconic tree-lined drive on its one-acre grounds. In early 2021, the Aslan Foundation completed a substantial restoration of the building. In partnership with the Aslan Foundation, Tri-Star Arts oversees all programming at the site. It is located at 4450 Candora Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37920.
About Tri-Star Arts:
Established in 2014, Tri-Star Arts serves Tennessee by cultivating and spotlighting the contemporary visual art scenes in each region while fostering a unified state-wide art scene. Their programs promote art dialogue between the different cities in the state, and between the state and the nation. Tri-Star Arts initiatives include a gallery and artist studios at the historic Candoro Marble Building, annual Current Art Fund project grants, statewide collaborative projects, and the LocateArts.org web resource.
