Andrés Bedoya “Still Life with Others”

SITUATIONS

This event has ended.

SITUATIONS presents a solo exhibition by Bolivian artist Andrés Bedoya titled Still Life with Others. The exhibition weaves a personal history with that of his home country in the Andean region of Latin America. With an emphasis on materiality as a storytelling and conceptual device, Bedoya uses both ephemeral and precious materials to reflect on time, memory and shared histories.

Bedoya refers to his work as an abstracted biographical narrative — a narrative that is inextricably linked to the city of La Paz, past and present. Employing materials such as silver, cigarette ash, leather and more, Still Life with Others contains a range of objects that reference family, local beliefs and economies, and the futile reluctance to accept our own temporal nature.

The sculpture Patricia (Cigarette Ash) is a strand of intact cigarette ash threaded on a single delicate chain. The fragile sculpture acts as a time piece and an offering, as is common in La Paz, to a spirit still engaged with the living. Vestment (Sleeve) is part of an ongoing exploration of the intersection between local craft and contemporary art practices, and how these may engage with the body or its absence. It is also a meditation on how the production of objects become ritualistic in itself. Bailando (‘Dancing’ in English) is a playful Danse Macabre piece consisting of two toy-like wire figures in movement. The title of the work references the 1982 song of the same title by Alaska y Los Pegamoides. The Spanish band, popular in Latin America, sing about a life lived so fully that despite dislocated bones resulting from excessive dancing, they keep going.

ANDRÈS BEDOYA lives and works in La Paz, Bolivia. His sculptures, drawings, installations and videos have been exhibited in Europe, the US and throughout Latin America. Solo exhibitions include the Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia; and Abrons Arts Center in New York City. He was the co-creator of Brooklyn is Burning, a series of performance and video events held in New York City in various spaces, including MoMA PS1. Bedoya holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas, Austin.