October 19 - November 11, 2006
Look Like Without Be, Juan Céspedes' third solo exhibition
at the gallery, includes an installation of sculptures, wall drawings, and
a stop motion animation. Céspedes, who is based in Santiago, Chile,
has populated the gallery with a series of sculptures depicting dogs, monsters,
body parts, and human forms. Each work is cut from a flat piece of metal,
and sits upon its own cast shadow made of black paper and a yellow ellipse
representing a spotlight, evoking its own self-contained theatrical environment.
As the title simple states, these objects look like familiar objects without
being them: they are flattened and simplified. Céspedes sees these
sculptures as an extension of how space functions in painting: within one
two-dimensional surface, the painter emulates figures, spaces, light, and
shadow. Céspedes has cut-and-folded this illusion back into the third
dimension.
Céspedes also engages the gallery space in a series of site-specific
installation works. He has illustrated a false door onto the gallery wall
as well as a faux-spotlit drawing. Another device Céspedes employs
to shift the context of everyday objects is distortion of scale. For Look
Like Without Be he has created a series of extremely oversized tee shirts,
and an enormous dripping spot of paint on the wall.
In Look Like Without Be, as in his previous exhibitions, Juan Céspedes
examines perception, science, human nature, and technology with a playful
low-tech wit. Céspedes' work has recently been exhibited at Maze Gallery,
Turin, Italy, and the OR Gallery, Vancouver.
The exhibition will be on view from October 19 å November 11, 2006. A reception
will be held for the artist at the gallery on October 19th from 6 - 8 PM at
525 West 22nd St., New York City. For information call 212-741-8849.
