Massimo Audiello is pleased to present the first solo show by Pablo Vargas Lugo in New York City. Pablo Vargas Lugo is one of the most
exiting contemporary voices from Mexico City. His work has been
shown extensively in Mexico, Europe and the USA. The exhibition will
open on Friday March 15th and run through April 20th 2002. The
exhibition is titled Star Foreshortening.
A foreshortening is a special category of drawing, one in which the
perspective chosen by the artist disrupts the object’s proportions.
Making a foreshortening look right is one of the great feats of a good
draftsman, one in which even the most precise observation can render
awkward results; thus it becomes necessary for the artist to massage
the lines, to bring them in compliance with their inner harmony without
putting them to much at odds with their model.
The piece that provides the name for this exhibition is a large,
nondescript, rather battered cardboard box inside of which is projected
an animation of two flag-like stars that seem to be in the middle of a
passionate exchange. In spite of the seemingly obvious implications of
mobility and identity implied by the pairing of flags and cardboard, the
humorous twist of the piece makes it much less about homelessness
than about the secret life of grand ideals.
The series of paper cutouts representing maps or charts torn by an
invisible hand or mysterious catastrophe continue Vargas Lugo’s
involvement with this technique, which in this case achieves an
unusual degree of depth through the almost chaotic layering of
intricately cut individual pieces.
Finally, a large format print of the space probe Ulysses stuck in the
branches of a tree, almost embraced by them as if one had grown
around the other, puts the rest of the work under an almost allegorical
light, though also relishing the abstract qualities of both objects,
making us wonder why we hadn't seen them together before. - Pedro
Barachena
Image: Pablo Vargas Lugo, Star Foreshortening
Massimo Audiello 526 West 26th Street New York, NY 10001