Installation, printmaking, drawing, and photography that breaks down limitations and questions that define the center versus the periphery
Part of El Museo's Focos series, which highlights groundbreaking, mature, yet under-recognized artists, Luis Camnitzer highlights the extensive work of Uruguayan conceptual artist. For nearly five decades, Camnitzer has persevered as an influential creator, critic, writer, theorist, teacher, and curator - a true "artist's artist." Born in 1937 in Germany, raised in Uruguay, and working in New York for the past three decades, Camnitzer creates works in a variety of media -including installation, printmaking, drawing, and photography- that breaks down limitations and questions that define the center versus the periphery. Select works of Camnitzer deal with explicitly political content; however, he states that all his works are deeply political, "in the sense of wanting to change society." His approach to Conceptualism often utilizes language to underscore issues of power and commodification, exploring the relationship between images, objects, and texts. Terse, metaphysical, and often wry, his simple yet powerful art elicits unexpected associations through its poetic lyricism. Organized by Daros Latinamerica, Zurich, curated by Hans-Michael Herzog and Katrin Steffen. (image: Landscape as an Attitude (El paisaje como actitud), detail , 1979. Black and white photograph, laminated, 28.1 x 35.5 cm. Photo by Peter Schalchli, Zurich, 2010)