The Thinkers

2014 - Sculpture (Sculpture)

Adriana Lara


Lara uses things readily at hand to create objects and situations that interrogate the processes of art and the spectrum of roles that art and artists play in society. To these ends, she has used furniture, projections, photographs, clothing, and even people as her materials. A reflection on how the production of meaning itself takes place in the manufacturing of things is embodied in wooden hand chairs, a crafty Indonesian version of the iconic Pedro Friedeberg 1960s Pop design. Facing one another and pulling a tight thread between their fingers as if playing a game, The Thinkers (2014) is a magnified version of the practice of weaving, with the hand as the primary technological tool. Part readymade, part joke, and part examination of the role of the artist, the significance of this simple gesture hinges on the feeling of discontinuity, the shift in consciousness, that it provokes.


Adriana Lara is fascinated by how a single thing (an object, a photograph, a song, a text) can be transformed into a work of art. This process does not relate to formal alteration or the application of expert skill, but rather to a simple act of articulation. Rather than relying on the physical creation of something new, this becomes that (namely, art) because the artist declares it to be so. This special kind of alchemy imbues all of Lara’s objects with a restless ambiguity. Much like her art, Lara is something of a shape-shifter herself, moving between the roles of artist, curator, musician, or writer whenever it suits her needs.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

Counsel for the month ahead.September 2018
© » EVEN MAGAZINE

Contemporary Muslim Fashions de Young Museum, San Francisco Opens September 22 On September 13, New York state will hold its primaries for the midterm elections, and on the Democratic ballot for governor is Cynthia Nixon: longtime activist, early supporter of mayor Bill de Blasio, and actor...

buZ Blurr, One Telling of the “Origin Story” at Straat Museum Amsterdam
© » BROOKLYN STREET ART

buZ Blurr, One Telling of the “Origin Story” at Straat Museum Amsterdam | Brooklyn Street Art BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY In the shifting culturescapes of urban contemporary art, STRAAT Museum’s latest exhibition, “Moniker: An Origin Story,” emerges as a poignant narrative that bridges the transient heritage of hobo monikers with the vibrant pulse of today’s street art scene...

Morvarid K — This too Shall Pass
© » SLASH PARIS

Morvarid K — This too Shall Pass — Galerie Bigaignon — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Morvarid K — This too Shall Pass — Galerie Bigaignon — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Morvarid K — This too Shall Pass Exposition Photographie Vue de l’exposition Morvarid K, This too Shall Pass, 2023 © D...

Armless
© » KADIST

Chloe Piene

2005

The figure in Armless tapers away...

Memorial for intersection #2
© » KADIST

Amalia Pica

2013

Memorial for intersections #2 (2013) is a minimalist, black metallic structure that contains the brightly colored translucent circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares that originally were presented in Pica’s performance work A ? B ? C (2013)...

YUMA o la tierra de los amigos (YUMA, or the Land of Friends)
© » KADIST

Carolina Caycedo

2014

YUMA o la tierra de los amigos (YUMA, or the Land of Friends) by Carolina Caycedo is a large mural containing a series of satellite photographs mounted on acrylic...

Untitled (Set of Six Drawings)
© » KADIST

Adrian Villar Rojas

2012

Based on historical prophecies and fantasy, the artist creates apocalyptic scenarios that posit an enigmatic world plagued by social, political, and environmental upheaval...

450 Hayes Street (excavation site)
© » KADIST

Marcelo Cidade

2014

450 Hayes Street (excavation site) by Marcelo Cidade is a large scale photograph documenting the artist’s excavation of a parking lot located at 450 Hayes Street in San Francisco, a former section of the city’s Central freeway and current condominium site...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

The Unsettling Sculptures of KT Beans
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

In the hands of KT Beans, a seashell takes on unsettling qualities...

Diversionist
© » KADIST

Cao Fei

2004

Diversionist is part of the Cosplayers Series from 2004...

100 Hand drawn maps of my country, Tel Aviv / Jerusalem
© » KADIST

Shilpa Gupta

2014

These hand drawn maps are part of an ongoing series begun in 2008 in which Gupta asks ordinary people to sketch outlines of their home countries by memory...