LABOR unveils its new space and reopens its doors to the public with a solo exhibition by Pedro Reyes (1972). Rompecabezas * brings together a series of works where the architecture of narrative structures is combined with anthropological methodologies of classification.
Among the pieces presented in the show is the polyptych Mutantes (Mutants), a work composed of 170 plates combining figures from ancient and modern mythologies. Similar to a periodic table, the origin of myths is organized by an axis in which animals and objects are combined with humans (male or female), providing a rational framework for the irrational products of human imagination.
Mano-sillas (Hand-chairs) are a new development on the intersection of sculpture and design that Reyes has explored in the past. Each set consists of a left and a right hand with articulated fingers that allow the user to create gestures and further explore the configurations of non-verbal language.
The presence of design as a narrative structure is also found in the Museum Of Hypothetical Lifetimes, a model for a museum whose floor plan includes galleries and corridors that correspond to different moments in the life of a person. In this activity, the participant can choose from a collection of miniature objects with different meanings that are then placed in rooms organized from birth to death. School, work, relationships, etc., become themed galleries that display the objects selected by the participant in the same way that curators plan their exhibitions; at once prospective and retrospective of their own existence.
Among other sculptural works is the piece Pico della Mirandola. In a new series of sculpture portraits, this work is based on a passage from the Italian Renaissance philosopher who in the “Oration on the Dignity of Man” (1486) articulates the concept of man, he says, “All creatures are brought into the world completed. Except for man who was left unfinished: You will be able to make out of yourself what you will. If you wish to be like the beasts, you will be a beast; if you wish to be like the angels, you will be like an angel. No specific form or function has been assigned to you.” This volcanic stone sculpture has various perforations in which one can insert additional stone carvings of eyes, noses, hair, mouths, and other body parts. The sculpture thus becomes a kind of puzzle that continuously changes form depending on the various interactions with the public.
On a long shelf affixed to the gallery walls rest a series of canvases entitled “Como perderle el miedo a la Pintura” (How to overcome your fear of painting). Each of the 20 pictures presented has been subject to a different operation. Reyes has approached painting with his own means calling them “flat sculptures”. Literally, the statue has lost one of its dimensions, only to recover its depth in the potential permutations of its bidimentional cluster. An analogy akin to the phrase Luis Cardoza y Aragón used in Pintura contemporánea de México (1950) to describe art criticism: “...the Venus de Milo holding the head of the Victory of Samothrace in her hands”. *Puzzle or Jigsaw
APRIL 16 - JUNE 16 Gallery hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 11 am - 7 pm | Thursday, 12 pm - 9 pm Saturday, 11 am - 4 pm | and by appointment.
