Primero estaba el mar ( First Was the Sea , 2012) is a system of equivalences between syllables and silhouettes of waveforms cast in cement. Each waveform represents a syllable of the sentence “Primero estaba el mar.” This sentence is the first verse of the Kogui poem of creation. For the Koguis, an indigenous community from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on the Colombian Caribbean coast, water was the absolute presence before the creation of the universe. The Colombian writer Tomás González used this phrase as the title of his first novel, in which he narrates the story of a couple in Medellín who, following the anarchic and hippie trends of the 1970s, abandon civilization and move to a solitary beach. Instead of leaving modernity behind, however, the couple becomes a colonizing force, transforming the natural environment of the beach into a rationalized territory. Under the logic proposed by Primero estaba el mar, the variation of the order of the waveforms represents different possibilities for this sentence. The work produces eight different phrases that assimilate the idea of repetition and change; the sentence has eight syllables, and each syllable-waveform is repeated eight times in order to reconstruct the title eight different times, resulting in a total of sixty-four pieces.
Felipe Arturo considers elements from urbanism, architecture, and art in relation to politics, history, geography, and economy. His works and projects often manifest as sculptures, installations, or videos, departing from concepts such as structure, sequence, and matter. They are deeply influenced by vernacular architecture and construction techniques, and reflect processes of assimilation and resistance to colonial and postcolonial processes. He frequently combines the language and materials of Modernism (e.g., concrete) with the informal methods of autoconstrucción (self-construction).
Nicolas Paris studied architecture and worked as an elementary school teacher before he decided to become an artist...
With Roca Carbón (Charcoal Rock, 2012) and Roca Grafito ( Graphite Rock , 2012), López plays with our relationship to inert and unremarkable objects such as rocks...
Juego de Banderas (a play on words that loosely translates to both set of flags and game of flags) is a triptych of modified Colombian flags by Antonio Caro...
Calle’s drawings all inhabit received forms but alter them to call attention to specific qualities...
Defined as entropy, the second law of thermodynamics proposes that energy is more easily dispersed than it is concentrated...
Nicolas Paris studied architecture and worked as an elementary school teacher before he decided to become an artist...
With Roca Carbón (Charcoal Rock, 2012) and Roca Grafito ( Graphite Rock , 2012), López plays with our relationship to inert and unremarkable objects such as rocks...
Made in cast bronze, Two Eyes Two Mouths provokes a strong sense of fleshiness as if manipulated by the hand of the artist pushing her fingers into wet clay or plaster to create gouges that represent eyes, mouths and the female reproductive organ...
In Studies of Chinese New Villages II Gan Chin Lee’s realism appears in the format of a fieldwork notebook; capturing present-day surroundings while unpacking their historical memory...
Kastura (2012) is an installation consisting of 24 black-and-white photographs of the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto bequeathed by Kimura’s grandfather; free-standing structures on which they are hung; and ornamental plants...
Bruce Conner is best known for his experimental films, but throughout his career he also worked with pen, ink, and paper to create drawings ranging from psychedelic patterns to repetitious inkblot compositions...
Birdstones is a series of flat concrete slabs made from moldings of different shapes, each with two small holes...
Defined as entropy, the second law of thermodynamics proposes that energy is more easily dispersed than it is concentrated...
Sign #1 , Sign #2 , Sign #3 were included in “Found Object Assembly”, Copeland’s 2009 solo show at Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco...