Ugh, Fuck Me, I Don’t Think This Unit is Big Enough to Cool This Whole Room

Josephine Zazueta presents Ugh, Fuck Me, I Don’t Think This Unit is Big Enough to Cool This Whole Room; a body of work constructed from drywall, wood beams, cement and found objects pulled from lived spaces.The exhibition presents a large-scale installation that stages a tension between narrative and material presence. As images and stories begin to form, their materiality interrupts them, pulling each piece back into its physical reality.

Across the exhibition, construction and undoing coexist through surfaces that present as though they remember being handled, visible in the crumbling edges and exposed drywall seams. Linguistic elements enter the work through extended titles that wander and break apart. In August Evenfall Somewhere in the San Gabriel Valley… the title behaves like a loose string on a sweater, tugging the viewer toward a moment that refuses to settle into a timeline. Zazueta uses syntax the way she uses paint; she gestures the viewer toward a moment that resists being held together. 

Zazueta was raised in Baja California, Mexico. Growing up in a home that was constantly under construction, she developed a deep connection to the materials that shape our environment(s). This experience now influences her practice, where she explores syntax, memory and materiality. Zazueta’s work has been featured in the 2023/2024 ArtCenter Viewbook, and she has exhibited multiple times in ArtCenter’s curated exhibitions. She is expected to graduate with Honors in December 2025, where she will receive the Student Leadership Award in recognition of her service to the ArtCenter community. Her recent recognitions also include the College Women’s Club of Pasadena Scholarship.