First UK Exhibition by Colombian Artist Mateo López at Gasworks
LONDON.- Gasworks presents the first UK exhibition by Colombian artist Mateo López. The exhibition follows three months of research and studio practice in London as part of Gasworks International Residency Programme.
Mateo López is interested in drawing as a tool that gives the first tangible form to ideas. From mind maps to architectural plans, drawings help visualise concepts and trace thought processes. When extending his drawings into three-dimensional objects, the artist remains committed to the potential of an idea rather than its transformation into a product. The resulting objects are often strikingly lifelike but inert, free from the pressures of success and failure.
Made to measure (2010), installation view, courtesy of Gasworks. Photo: Matthew Booth
For Made to measure, López responds to Gasworks’ exhibition space which he treats as a drawing, a grid. The artist will mark the space, suggesting a mock-up of a structure yet to be assembled. New corners and angles will serve as display surfaces for a series of what he calls ‘graphic objects’, created with extraordinary precision and detail. By situating the viewer within an illusory life-size model, Made to measure subverts the relations of scale, dimension and functionality.
Mateo López was born in Bogotá, Colombia where he lives and works. His recent solo exhibitions include Deriva at MUSAC, Spain (2009), Topografía Anecdótica at Galería Casas Riegner, Bogotá (2008), and Diario de Motocicleta at Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MDE 07), Medellín, Colombia (2007). He has also exhibited in international group shows such as 31º Panorama da Arte Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (2009), Moby Dick, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, USA (2009); and Urgente: 41 Salón Nacional de Artistas, Cali, Colombia (2008). Mateo López’s residency is a collaboration with TraIN and will culminate in a two venue exhibition at Gasworks and at Camberwell Space. The exhibition at Camberwell Space ran from 1 to 11 June.
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