BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN | Before receiving his MFA degree in painting from Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute in 2003, the Mexican artist Gabriel de la Mora had studied and subsequently practiced architecture for five years. Though his focus might have shifted to visual art, his experience in that field continues to inform his striking sensibility for installation and organization. Since the early 2000s, he has collected found objects (some as obscure as shoe soles, for example), which he then transforms into conceptual contemplations of the nature of art. In the past he has explained that to him, the artwork already exists before the artist, and that it is, therefore, his role to transform.
This particular exhibition was conceived in this spirit. Here, 55 pairs of found speaker screens are featured side-by-side, making for an enticing installation. Far from pristine, each of these objects has been marked by time, exhibiting accumulated layers of dust, for example. Upon close inspection, one can only imagine the many hours of eclectic music that were filtered through these screens, as well as random snippets of commercials, important news broadcasts and static.
While they originally might have channeled the various voices and sounds of their time, they have now become defunct witnesses of an era long past. De la Mora, however, does not seem to approach his subjects with a strong sense of nostalgia. Instead, he views them as caches for historical information about everyday life. In this case, he studied all of the speaker grills with an almost obsessive devotion in order to reveal the unique underlying architecture of each one. Curated by Brett Littman, this exhibition serves as both an analysis of the objects at hand and a poetic contemplation of the fluidity of time.
Through Sept. 2 at The Drawing Center (35 Wooster St., btw. Grand & Broome Sts.). Hours: Wed., Fri., Sat. & Sun., 12–6pm; Thurs., 12–8pm. Admission: $5 ($3 for students/seniors, free for members and those under 12, free for all Thurs., 6–8pm). Call 212-219-2166 or visit drawingcenter.org.
