Exhibition Review of "The star exploding in the body" at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Guadalupe Maravilla with Emery Blagdon: The star exploding in the body, installation view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 2026. Photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

By OCEANA ANDRIES June 29th, 2026

There is currently an exhibition at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) where a healing energy resonates, rippling wellness to its guests. The star exploding in the body, featuring Guadalupe Maravilla with Emery Blagdon (1907–1986), invites visitors to partake in a transformed space intended for healing. 

These artists' practices have been shaped by journeys, illness, and the turmoil they've caused. But, more importantly, the works focus on healing from these traumas. Though they’ve never met, their artworks are in sync, as they share the purpose of serving as conduits to harness energy for a body's well-being.  

Maravilla deconstructs a school bus and reconfigures it into Mariposa Relámpago (2023–26), an instrument for healing; it sits at the center of the exhibition space. The work is covered with selected objects from a ritual retracing of the artist’s migration from El Salvador to the U.S. Border at Tijuana into San Diego. This was a two-and-a-half-month trek the artist made unaccompanied at age 8 to escape El Salvador’s civil war. At thirty-six, Maravilla was diagnosed with cancer, which he believed was triggered by the accumulated trauma and stress of his childhood migration. With a blend of modern and ancient techniques, he overcame the sickness and developed a body of work that reflects his journey.

Guadalupe Maravilla, Mariposa Relámpago, 2023–26; objects collected from a ritual retracing of the artist's original migration route. Courtesy of the artist and P·P·O·W. Photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center.  

Mariposa Relámpago (2023) is painted silver, a metal known for its antimicrobial properties. Among the cluster of silver objects, a cob of corn, and a spoon stood out to me. Within his work, food is connected to wellness and community, as he was supported by the kindness of strangers during his journey. Curiously, the top of the bus is adorned with pale horses, the last horse of the apocalypse in the Book of Revelation. In that context, they symbolize death and disease. Here, Maravilla inverts its fatalist meaning: death is renewal, and disease can be overcome.

Emery Blagdon, "The Healing Machine" (untitledindividualcomponents), c.1955–1986; metal and mixed media. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection, gift of Kohler Foundation Inc. Photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 

Blagdon’s The Healing Machine (1955–1986) is an art environment that the JMKAC salvaged in 2004. Originally, the work was created in a large shed, on property he inherited from his uncle in 1955, to harness the earth’s unseen energy for the betterment of a person's health. This act was prompted as a response to watching many of his family members become stricken with cancer. Blagdon worked on this piece continuously until his death in 1986 from the disease. 

Parts of the work hang from the ceiling, similar to a chandelier. It’s assembled with a variety of metals and mixed media. Other parts of the piece are wooden planks adhered to the wall, with symbols drawn on them to charge energy. The work feels suspended in time; its construction comes off as fragile, delicately swaying in the exhibit. The motion feels hypnotic, gently lulling viewers into a meditative state. It's symbols, rhytmtic motion, and metals, which appear to be cooper and silver (both known for their medicinal properties), are combined to serve as a channel to enchance one's physical state. Blagdon’s legacy is a continued act of care for his community. His many years of labor inspire visitors to engage with the Earth's natural properties, both visible and invisible. 

Maravilla and Blagdon’s practices are steeped in health; through this mutual theme, they synchronize across generations to activate the space. In The star exploding in the body, visitors can not only witness the visual manifestation of the incredibly perilous journeys these artists faced, but can partake in its positive transmutation. 

The show is on view from May 5, 2026, to January 10, 2027.