Gabriel de la Mora @ Dialogues / Sicardi Ayers Bacino / July 15 – August 29, 2020

Gabriel de la Mora @ Dialogues / Sicardi Ayers Bacino / July 15 – August 29, 2020

Artists: Jesús Rafael Soto, Francisco Sobrino, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Mercedes Pardo, Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Iole de Freitas, León Ferrari, Ana María Tavares, Thomas Glassford, Marco Maggi y Gabriel de la Mora.

Sicardi Ayers Bacino is pleased to present the exhibition Dialogues, on view from July 15 to August 29, 2020. This exhibition underscores the gallery’s core program since the 1990s: the search for challenging links between recognized modernists and mid-career and emerging artists.

Pioneers of the Op Art and Kinetic Art movement, Jesús Rafael Soto and Francisco Sobrino explored the viewer’s relationship to the art object, activating the space around the work through color and form. Carlos Cruz-Diez used the science of color theory to immerse the viewer in the experience of pure color. These and other artists of this generation, including Mercedes Pardo and Sérvulo Esmeraldo, were part of a vibrant expatriate community in Paris during the 1960s and 1970s. Exploring color, form, and space in two and three dimensions, they often invited the viewer to engage in a dynamic relationship with a bold colors and constantly shifting forms, as is evidenced in Sobrino’s Transformation Instable (1971/2013). Iole de Freitas, a native of Brazil who spent eight years in Italy, uses ordinary materials in sculptures that incorporate the elements of space and time.

León Ferrari spent his career between Argentina and Brazil, where he was actively involved in both the formal artistic concerns and the politics of his generation during the Argentine dictatorship in the 1960s.

In dialogue with these Modern masters, contemporary artists including Ana Maria Tavares, Thomas Glassford, Marco Maggi, and Gabriel de la Mora continue the exploration of abstraction through works with an underlying formal structure, but they ground their artistic production more in the conceptual than the perceptual realm. Ana Maria Tavares uses industrial materials to explore the emotional and psychological impact on the transformation of Latin American cities by Modern architecture and design in the mid 1990s. Glassford’s Stela series speaks to his investigation of consumerism through the lens of a ubiquitous and utilitarian object: the broomstick. While De la Mora also works with found objects, his investigations center around exploring the conceptual meaning of art and the liminal space between drawing, painting, and sculpture. Maggi invites the viewer to slow down and look closely, a notion that is highly counter-cultural in the age of technology.

 

https://www.sicardi.com/exhibitions/dialogues

www.sicardi.com

www.gabrieldelamora.com

 

12,449 – 2013

Gabriel de la Mora, 12,449, 2013, 12,449 fragmentos de cascarón de huevo de codordiz sobre madera / 12,449 quail eggshell fragments on wood, 30 x 30 x 4 cm / 11.81 x 11.81 x 1.57 inches, Serie CaCO3 / CaCO3 Series, Colección Privada / Private Collection.

Fotos de los huevos de codorniz y foto de la codorniz fueron bajadas de Internet.

 

 

SERIE

CaCO3

2012 – PRESENTE

La compulsión por llegar a un grado cero de la pintura ha llevado a Gabriel de la Mora a explorar el propio medio fuera de sí mismo, es decir, a explorar la idea de pintura sin pintura.

Tal pulsión, crucial dentro de su producción, se hace presente con particular agudeza en series como la realizada con cascarones de huevo.

La totalidad de la superficie, preparada con el mismo cuidado que una tela que desaparecerá lentamente al ser impregnada con óleo, queda cubierta con piezas minúsculas de este material.

Los cascarones, previamente seleccionados y catalogados con base en su color, se rompen, se cuentan y son colocados sobre la superficie de manera que no quede espacio vacío alguno y evitando a toda costa que se empalmen los pequeñísimos fragmentos.

El control durante el proceso es absoluto: se lleva cuenta del tiempo que toma cubrir la totalidad de la superficie e igualmente se cuenta cuántos pedazos caben dentro de ella; tal información da título a cada pieza.

El resultado genera entonces un minimalismo máximo, una pintura que sólo al ser observada de cerca revela su evidente carácter barroco.

 

– – – – – – –

 

SERIE

CaCO3

2012 – ONGOING

The compulsion to reach a ‘zero degree’ of painting has led Gabriel de la Mora to explore the medium outside of itself, that is, to explore the idea of painting with no paint.

This urge, a feature central to his recent production, is made patent with poignant sharpness in series such as CaCO3, made from eggshells.

A surface, prepared with the same care as a canvas, is covered with minuscule fragments of eggshells (catalogued based on their color).

The eggshells are broken into tiny pieces, counted one by one, and then placed on a wooden surface in such a way that no blank spaces are left and avoiding any possible overlapping.

The control executed during this process is absolute; the amount of time it takes to cover the full surface is taken as well as the exact number of fragments that are used for that purpose; the resulting statistics inform the title of each work.

A “maximum minimalism” is achieved by each piece – paintings that reveal their intricate character only when observed up close.

 

www.gabrieldelamora.com

www.perrotin.com

www.proyectosmonclova.com

www.sicardi.com

www.timothytaylor.com

 

127,687 – 2019.

Gabriel de la Mora, 127,687, 2019, 127,687 Fragmentos de cascarón de huevo de gallina sobre madera / 127,687 Hen eggshell fragments on wood, 90 x 90 x 4 cm / 35.43 x 35.43 x 1.57 inches, Serie CaCXO3 / CaCO3 Series.

 

SERIE

CaCO3

2012 – PRESENTE

La compulsión por llegar a un grado cero de la pintura ha llevado a Gabriel de la Mora a explorar el propio medio fuera de sí mismo, es decir, a explorar la idea de pintura sin pintura.

Tal pulsión, crucial dentro de su producción, se hace presente con particular agudeza en series como la realizada con cascarones de huevo.

La totalidad de la superficie, preparada con el mismo cuidado que una tela que desaparecerá lentamente al ser impregnada con óleo, queda cubierta con piezas minúsculas de este material.

Los cascarones, previamente seleccionados y catalogados con base en su color, se rompen, se cuentan y son colocados sobre la superficie de manera que no quede espacio vacío alguno y evitando a toda costa que se empalmen los pequeñísimos fragmentos.

El control durante el proceso es absoluto: se lleva cuenta del tiempo que toma cubrir la totalidad de la superficie e igualmente se cuenta cuántos pedazos caben dentro de ella; tal información da título a cada pieza.

El resultado genera entonces un minimalismo máximo, una pintura que sólo al ser observada de cerca revela su evidente carácter barroco.

 

– – – – – – –

 

SERIE

CaCO3

2012 – ONGOING

The compulsion to reach a ‘zero degree’ of painting has led Gabriel de la Mora to explore the medium outside of itself, that is, to explore the idea of painting with no paint.

This urge, a feature central to his recent production, is made patent with poignant sharpness in series such as CaCO3, made from eggshells.

A surface, prepared with the same care as a canvas, is covered with minuscule fragments of eggshells (catalogued based on their color).

The eggshells are broken into tiny pieces, counted one by one, and then placed on a wooden surface in such a way that no blank spaces are left and avoiding any possible overlapping.

The control executed during this process is absolute; the amount of time it takes to cover the full surface is taken as well as the exact number of fragments that are used for that purpose; the resulting statistics inform the title of each work.

A “maximum minimalism” is achieved by each piece – paintings that reveal their intricate character only when observed up close.

 

 

www.gabrieldelamora.com

www.perrotin.com

www.proyectosmonclova.com

www.sicardi.com

www.timothytaylor.com

 

 

92 días, 2013.

Gabriel de la Mora, 92 días / Granizada 22.05.2013, 2013, Esmalte erosionado sobre tela / Eroded enamel on canvas, 60 x 60 x 4 cm / 23.62 x 23.62 x 1.57 inches, Serie El Sentido de la Posibilidad / Sense of Possibility Series.

* Serie apoyada por la beca SISTEMA NACIONAL DE CREADORES DE ARTE, emisión 2013 – 2015. / * Series developed thanks to the support from the fellowship SISTEMA NACIONAL DE CREADORES DE ARTE, 2013 – 2015.

 

 

El jueves 21 de febrero de 2013 subí a la azotea de mi estudio en la Ciudad de México una tela pintada con varias capas de esmalte negro sobre un bastidor de madera.

Cada día por la mañana subí a checar la condición de la pieza en proceso.

La mañana del jueves 23 de mayo de 2013 la pintura cambió radicalmente, el día anterior la superficie era totalmente lisa, y ahora una secuencia de círculos casi perfectos y espirales cubrían casi la totalidad de la obra, mi pregunta inmediata fue: ¿Qué había creado esas imágenes en la pieza?

La respuesta inmediata fue pensar en la lluvia con granizo de la noche anterior, la primer granizada en la temporada.

Documenté la baja de la obra y esta fue la primer pieza lograda de esta serie.

La pintura pasa de un monocromo a una imagen, la imagen fue realizada por una granizada, fuera del control del artista, una pintura realizada por la naturaleza a través de un fenómeno meteorológico.

El artista tan sólo inicia y detiene un proceso.

La pieza se presentará siempre a piso directo o sobre una base baja de color blanco.

Una obra en donde dialogan en un equilibrio perfecto tanto el dibujo como la pintura y la escultura.

Un todo y nada a la vez.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

On Thursday, February 21, 2013, I uploaded to the roof of my studio in Mexico City a fabric painted with several layers of black enamel on a wooden frame.

Every day in the morning I went up to check the condition of the piece in process.

On the morning of Thursday, May 23, 2013 the painting changed radically, the day before the surface was completely smooth, and now a sequence of almost perfect circles and spirals covered almost the entirety of the work, my immediate question was: What had I created? those images in the room?

The immediate response was to think about the hail rain the night before, the first hailstorm of the season.

I documented the removal of the work and this was the first successful piece in this series.

The painting goes from a monochrome to an image, the image was made by a hailstorm, outside the artist’s control, a painting made by nature through a meteorological phenomenon.

The artist just starts and stops a process.

The piece will always be presented on a direct floor or on a low white base.

A work where drawing, painting and sculpture dialogue in a perfect balance.

An all and nothing at the same time.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Vista de la pieza 92 días, 2013 en la exposición LO QUE NO VEMOS LO QUE NOS MIRA, Curada por Willy Kautz en el Museo Amparo en Puebla, México de Octubre 2014 a Febrero 2015 / Installation view from the piece 92 days, 2013 during the exhibition WHAT WE DO NOT SEE WHAT LOOK BACK AT US, Curated by Willy Kautz at The Amparo Museum in Puebla, Mexico from October 2014 until February 2015.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

SERIE

Sentido de la posibilidad

2013 – PRESENTE

* Serie apoyada por la beca SISTEMA NACIONAL DE CREADORES DE ARTE, emisión 2013 – 2015.

Como ejercicio artístico, la “pintura al aire libre” o peinture en plein air permanece aún en el imaginario popular como el intento máximo, de parte de los pintores, por capturar el verdadero espíritu de la naturaleza. Realizando un ejercicio inverso, la serie El sentido de la posibilidad captura el vigor y la fuerza de la naturaleza a través de su propia inscripción en la superficie pictórica. Esto es, De la Mora prepara una serie de lienzos –cubiertos con pintura acrílica o incluso con chapa de oro– que son expuestos a la intemperie durante diferentes períodos de tiempo. Paulatinamente, los cambios de temperatura, el impacto de la lluvia y el granizo, el sol, la contaminación e incluso cenizas del Popocatépetl (volcán cercano a la Ciudad de México) van provocando la aparición de líneas y círculos sobre la superficie, así como la erosión o alteración de las capas de pintura que se expanden y contraen como resultado.
Las figuras provocadas por el impacto de la lluvia o del granizo, círculos y espirales principalmente, se asemejan a las estructuras que componen a cualquier ser vivo: en un gesto tautológico, es como si la naturaleza se dibujara a sí misma y el artista no hace mas que incitar tal autorretrato al posibilitar la acción. Finalmente, las piezas son consolidadas y lo que se haya adherido a la superficie queda fijado de manera permanente.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

SERIE

Sense of possibility

2013 – ONGOING

* Series developed thanks to the support from the fellowship SISTEMA NACIONAL DE CREADORES DE ARTE, 2013 – 2015.

As an artistic exercise, “outdoor painting” or peinture en plein air still lingers in the collective consciousness as the ultimate attempt for painters to capture nature’s true spirit. Developing an inverse exercise, the series Sense of possibility intends to capture the vigor and force of nature, yet it does so by generating a self-inscription on the pictorial surface. De la Mora prepares a series of canvases that are covered with acrylic paint or gold leaf, to be placed out in the open through different periods of time. The changes in temperature, the effects of precipitation, sunlight, pollution and even falling ash from nearby Popocatépetl volcano slowly produce ghostly lines and circles on the paint’s surface. Over time, the layers of paint and leaf are eroded and altered by their consequent expansion and contraction.
The figures produced by the impact of the hail and rain are often perfect circles and spirals; shapes similar to the structures that constitute any living being. In a tautological gesture, it is almost as if nature drew herself and the artist only participates in this cycle of creation by making the action possible – merely appropriating the self-portrait. As a last step, the works are consolidated and anything that was adhered to the surface will remain fixed on it permanently.

 

 

www.gabrieldelamora.com

www.perrotin.com

www.proyectosmonclova.com

www.sicardi.com

www.timothytaylor.com

 

 

Video / p. 22, 2007-2017.

Gabriel de la Mora, Video / p. 22, 2007-2017, Papel quemado / Burnt paper, dimensiones variables de una hoja de papel de 28 x 21.5 cm / variable dimensions from a A4 sheet of paper 11 x 8.5 inches.

“Algo tan efímero como quemar un papel se transforma en eterno.”

 

www.gabrieldelamora.com

 

N.P. 15, 2017.

N.P. 15, 2017, Lápiz, tinta, cinta adhesiva y pintura vinílica sobre tela Neon paper quemada / Pencil, ink, masking tape and acrylic vinyl paint on burnt Neon paper fabric, 18 x 43 x 3.9 cm / 7.08 x 16.92 x 1.53 inches.

 

Neon papers

Como disciplina artística, la pintura tuvo que replantear tanto sus búsquedas como la razón de su existencia tras la invención de la fotografía. Al liberarse del yugo de la mímesis y su deseo por copiar “fielmente” la realidad, ésta se enfrentó a un sinfín de nuevos horizontes y posibilidades, lo cual la llevó a una renovación radical. La serie Neon Papers, iniciada en 2018, encapsula la reconceptualización de la pintura así como la propia redefinición de Gabriel de la Mora sobre su función como creador. Tras su renuncia a la pintura en 2004, De la Mora ha buscado fenómenos pictóricos en situaciones, momentos, imágenes y superficies que se alejan considerablemente del acto ortodoxo de pintar.

Coqueteando con conceptos clave dentro del arte conceptual como el found object y el readymade, esta serie se conforma de telas que son utilizadas por artesanos para trazar las letras de vidrio que se utilizan en anuncios lumínicos. Es en estas telas, resistentes al fuego y al calor, donde se plasma la primera imagen de lo que será mostrado en dichos encargos comerciales. Conforme se van saturando de trazos –trazos que son información, registros, o la materialización de gestos–, las telas son cubiertas con pintura vinílica con la finalidad de reutilizar la superficie. Una vez que la densidad de las capas acumuladas provoca su cuarteamiento, éstas son desechadas. Es entonces cuando De la Mora adquiere estas telas y prosigue a consolidarlas sin alterar elemento alguno, simplemente monta cada una sobre un bastidor, respetando incluso las dimensiones originales.

De forma similar series como Placas de imprenta, el trazo de las imágenes y motivos que aparecen en Neon Papers difícilmente pueden atribuirse a De la Mora, pero tampoco pueden atribuirse a los artesanos o trabajadores que las manipulan: la luz quema la superficie y se combina, involuntariamente, con el grafito de las guías, dando lugar al nacimiento de formas diversas. ¿Quién puede considerarse, entonces, como el creador de cada lienzo consolidado? A pesar de que la pregunta permanece abierta, una posibilidad puede esbozarse –– como tal, Neon Papers es una obra cuya existencia no se debe sino al trabajo y al tiempo.

 

Neon papers

As an artistic discipline, painting had to reformulate its driving quest as well as its raison d’être following the invention of photography. Once freed from the burden of mimetic representation and its desire to create “faithful” copies of reality, the medium suddenly faced myriad horizons and new possibilities, which led it to a radical renewal. In a similar fashion, the series Neon Paintings, begun in 2018, encapsulates the reconceptualization underwent by painting and the redefinition of Gabriel de la Mora as an artistic creator following his withdrawal from painting some fourteen years before. Ever since, de la Mora has sought pictorial phenomena in situations, moments, images, and surfaces that are at several removes from the orthodox act of painting.

Flirting with key concepts from conceptual art, such as the ideas of the found object and the readymade, this series is composed of fabrics employed by artisans who trace out glass letters to create neon signs. The sketches for these commercial commissions are drawn in the fabrics, which are resistant to heat and fire. With the passing of time they continue to grow saturated of traces –traces which, in turn, are information, registers, or the materialisation of different gestures. The fabrics are then covered in vinyl paint, allowing the surface to be reused time and again; however, they are discarded once the density of the accumulated layers leads to the creation of creaks. It is at this moment of their lifespan, right about when they are about to face their utilitarian death, that de la Mora acquires these materials and proceeds to consolidate them without altering any element whatsoever, merely mounting them on a wooden stretcher sticking to the original dimensions of each cloth.

Similarly to the series Offset PA and Offset MC, the images and motifs traced out in Neon Papers can hardly be attributed to de la Mora, however, neither can they be attributed to the artisans or workers who previously manipulated the fabrics: the light and fire employed to shape the glass burn the surface, involuntarily being combined with the graphite of the guides, therefore leading to the appearance of distinct forms. Who, then, may be considered the creator of each consolidated canvas? In spite of the open nature of the question, there is one possibility that deserves being sketched –– as such, Neon Papers is a work whose existence cannot be attributed but to labour and time.

www.gabrieldelamora.com