Darío Escobar
Sin título
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The Lapis Press is pleased to announce the release of Sin título, 2016, a new edition with Guatemalan conceptual artist Darío Escobar.
Darío Escobar’s artistic practice evolved from his training as an architect, taking a critical view of buildings as forms to an investigation of shapes and ideas using objects. His work explores the religion and mythology that are a part of Guatemala’s identity as they intersect with global pop culture influences. Religious fervor and sports mania are intertwined in his sculptures and installations.
Escobar has taken these themes to deconstruct the forms and uses of various sports equipment as well as common objects such as bicycle parts, camping gear, McDonald’s cups, shopping carts, and chrome bumpers. Starting in 2000, Escobar made a series of skateboards, re-contextualizing the forms, uses, and meanings of the objects as a reflection on the cycle of mass production, purchase, and consumption. By singling out and fragmenting each skateboard with tongue in cheek embellishments, the artist brings the viewer to a place of reflection, seeing the object apart from its commercial context.
In Sin título, 2016, a skateboard is deconstructed and reconstructed with a series of hinges, allowing the work to be reconfigured at will. Creating a biomorphic form out of mass-produced skateboards and adding gold plated hardware ignites an energy in this edition that transcends the everyday object. By repurposing its use and re-contextualizing it as art, Escobar presents the culture of skateboarding beyond the sport. Sin título, 2016, becomes a metaphor for life—in this case, a dysfunctional, topsy-turvy series of gilded steps.
Sin título, 2016, will be Dario Escobar’s final work using skateboards.
About Darío Escobar
Darío Escobar (b. 1971) has become one of Central America’s most important artists while gaining international recognition through his thought provoking yet irreverent work. He represented Guatemala in the Istituto Italo-Latino Americano Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. His sculpture and installations have been widely exhibited and can be found in collections worldwide including: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles / La Fundación/Colección JUMEX, Mexico City / The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina / Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami / Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio / Deutsche Bank The Americas Collection, New York / Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris / The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, Texas / The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts
Darío Escobar lives and works in Guatemala City.
About The Lapis Press
The Lapis Press was founded in 1984 by Sam Francis and has worked with such luminaries as Robert Therrien, Ed Moses, Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor, David Reed, Gabriel Orozco and Ed Ruscha to create print editions and hand-bound artist books. Since 2005, Lapis has been committed to integrating the dynamic international art scene with the vitality of the blossoming cultural climate in Los Angeles. In 2013, Lapis moved into a Johnston Marklee designed space in the creative Hayden Tract neighborhood of Culver City. The brilliant new studio is a tranquil yet inspired space to cultivate the collaborative environment that has become the hallmark of The Lapis Press.
