Repellent Fence/Valla Repelente Installed at Phoenix Art Museum

The Men’s Arts Council (MAC), a nonprofit member organization of Valley philanthropists dedicated to supporting Phoenix Art Museum’s (PhxArt) community-outreach programs through annual giving, is pleased to announce the artist collective Postcommodity’s artwork Repellent Fence/Valla Repelente (2015) has been installed and is now open to the public for viewing. The large-scale installation is the 40th work acquired into the PhxArt Collection with funds provided by MAC.

“We’re honored to provide the funding for the Museum to acquire this work,” said Art Harding, Men’s Art Council board president. “Repellent Fence offers an incredible opportunity for audiences to learn about Indigenous histories embedded in the work itself, while also sparking larger conversations about human-made geographic borders and how they affect communities and identity. It’s exciting to bring something with such deep meaning to the Museum’s collection.”

Repellent Fence was a two-mile-long ephemeral land-art installation along the U.S./Mexico border composed of 26 bright yellow balloons that were tethered together. Each 10 feet in diameter and floating 50 feet above the ground, the balloons are modeled after the ineffectual scared eye balloons commercially sold to repel birds with bright colors and predator eyes. According to Postcommodity, they appropriated this image because red, yellow, and black are primary medicine colors among many Indigenous tribes in North and South America. Designed this way to communicate with birds—the mediators between the physical and spiritual worlds for Indigenous peoples—the work embodies the intersections of conflicting cultural, economic, and political issues.

The work premiered in 2015 along the U.S./Mexico border at Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Sonora, and was presented in collaboration with Arizona State University Art Museum and supported by grants from Creative Capital, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, and Art Matters. The work acted as a suture that stitches the peoples of the Americas together. Postcommodity artists Raven Chacon, Cristobal Martinez, and Kade Twist collaborated with the area’s civic governments, along with local schools, business owners, artists, community organizers, and community members to realize the installation and bring attention to the longstanding immigration crisis at the U.S./Mexico border, reunite two communities, and continue exploration of contested spaces. For four days, the line of monumental balloons became a beacon that, according to the artists, celebrated the “historical stewards of the land, and those who are following ancient Indigenous trade routes in search of economic opportunity.”

In summer 2024, MAC voted to help PhxArt acquire four components of the larger Repellent Fence project—two balloons, one video detailing the installation process and featuring the artists, and one photograph—with one of the balloons and other components currently installed in the Museum’s Katz Wing

"We are thrilled to present this significant work by Postcommodity in our galleries, a feat made possible through the profound generosity of the Men's Arts Council," announced Jeremy Mikolajczak, PhxArt's Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. "MAC's unwavering support not only bolsters our mission but also enhances our ability to serve and represent important works to our community. Their support has made it possible for all to appreciate these works through their underwriting of exhibitions, community programs, and the acquisition of new works like Repellent Fence."

About the Men’s Arts Council

The Men's Arts Council (MAC) of Phoenix Art Museum, founded in January 1967, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that supports the Museum's programs and activities through unique events such as the Copperstate Overland and the Copperstate 1000. The Men's Arts Council's efforts enable the organization to make annual contributions to Phoenix Art Museum's operating budget and financially sponsor exhibitions. For more information, visit https://mensartscouncil.com/.

About Phoenix Art Museum

Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, an art+music festival, and more for the community. For more information, visit phxart.org.