Resurfaced: Contemporary Colombian Art
Magnan Metz, New York
Jaime Ávila, Barbarita Cardozo, Nicolás Consuegra, Miler Lagos, and the artist duo Magle compose the group of artists who participate in the exhibition “Resurfaced: Colombian Art”. Each one of them manipulates the traditional materials to obtain new interpretations of political and social issues. A vision of Colombian contemporary reality is displayed through the work of artists who use heterogeneous mediums and techniques, but who share a sense of belonging to the land and the culture.
The choice of temperate materials, the saturated colors and the docile forms, are some of the characteristics that are shared by the structures made in Colombian wood, reminiscent of the architecture of Bogotá, of the Mangle duo, the piece in stainless steel Mirror-Maps (Colombia) by Nicolás Consuegra, and the acrylic landscapes on Plexiglas by Jaime Ávila. Yet the work of these artists is also identified with dramatic subjects of the Colombian society, particularly so in the case of the work of Ávila and Consuegra who, using simple elements such as the reflections of the maps of Colombia and the United States, or the dots and white lines of Outline for Dust, remind us of the drug trade between South America and the United States and the conflicts related with cocaine trafficking across borders.
-
Nicolás Consuegra. El Dorado, 2010-2011, Bronze with gold plating, 4 1/2 x 12 1/4 x 4 in. Bronce con baño de oro, 11,4 x 31 x 10 cm.
