Jose_Dávila

Jose Dávila

Jose Dávila

Mexican contemporary artist

Jose Dávila (born 1974 in Guadalajara, Mexico)[1] is a Mexican multidisciplinary artist. Mainly a sculptor, Dávila also works with two-dimensional media such as painting, drawing and prints. His work encompasses different topics and concepts such as the tradition of modernism in the arts, notions of balance and equilibrium manifested through sculptural creation[2] and the politics of representation and recognition within visual cultures.[3] Dávila currently lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Education

Jose Dávila studied architecture in the 1990s at the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Guadalajara, Mexico.[4] In different interviews the artist has valued this initial education however he prefers to consider himself a self-taught artist, involving an intuitive research of art history and different influential artists such as Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein and Jannis Kounnellis.[5][6]

Career

Jose Dávila belongs to a prolific generation of artists from Jalisco, including other names such as Jorge Méndez Blake and Gonzalo Lebrija. The creation of the first international art fair in Mexico, called Expo Arte and presented in Guadalajara during the nineties represented the triggering event that turned this local artistic scene into an internationally-driven and vibrant community.[7] He also co-funded and co-directed the independent art space "OPA" or "Oficina para Proyectos de Arte" (Office for Art Projects) which became an influential space for presenting the work of cutting-edge international contemporary artists in Guadalajara. Artists like Pipilotti Rist, Anri Sala, Yutaka Sone and Mario García Torres exhibited in this space which was located in the top floor of Condominios Guadalajara, a tower built in the 1950's and that for many years stood as the only high-rise structure in the city.[8][9]

Artwork

Cut-outs

During his early career Dávila investigated the conceptual usage of images within the art context, manipulating them in different ways. During these years he started his series of "cut-out" works which runs until recent years. The series consists of different groups of images in which the main subject is removed by cutting it out, leaving only the surroundings.[10] Dávila approached topics such as architecture, art history, popular culture and the work of specific artists like Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Dan Flavin and Richard Prince. By presenting incomplete versions of highly familiar images Dávila invites the public to question the inherent dynamics of visual recognition and how this plays a vital role in the establishment of visually-oriented cultures.[11]

Donald Judd series

Dávila has replicated the iconic "Stack" sculptures by American minimalist artist Donald Judd using simple repurposed materials such as cardboard and recycled shipping containers. These works are in between appropriation, homage and re-contextualization, but more than wanting to reflect on originality and authenticity, Dávila seeks to question the nature of the sculptural object.[12] In an interview Dávila mentions how Judd's stacks function by occupying space and establishing "spatial relationships", and that this could be re-enacted with cheaper and local materials.[13]

Sculpture

In recent years Dávila has developed more projects related to sculpture. He creates complex structural systems in which stones, construction materials and found objects remain in perilous balance, often balancing the weight of the elements in order to create a stable composition through the use of ratchet straps or wires. His larger on-site installations often involve site-specific materials. As a research topic he has also focused on the material and cultural histories of stone and its relationship with the human world.[14][15][16]

Public art projects

Sense of Place (Los Angeles, 2017)

In 2017 LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) commissioned Jose Dávila the creation of a sculptural project that would interact in close proximity with the city of Los Angeles and its inhabitants. The result was a large-scale modular sculpture that moved through different landmark sites and neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The sculpture consisted of a 2.5 meter high cube made with 40 individual pieces made with concrete. The work was initially presented in its complete form at West Hollywood Park and then the different modules were disseminated across the city. The nature of the work was relational and interactive with the public, the previously blank surface of the concrete pieces ended up covered with graffiti and other interventions. After three months the pieces were brought together and the assembled cube was presented with all its modifications for one last time at West Hollywood Park.[17][18]

List of selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions and biennales

Collections

Artworks by Jose Dávila can be found in the following public and private collections:[42]

Prizes and awards

  • BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art's Annual Artist Award (2017) [43]
  • EFG ArtNexus Latin American Art Award (2014) [44]

References

  1. [1]
    "Jose Dávila". Biennale of Sydney. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  2. [2]
    "José Dávila | Metal Magazine". metalmagazine.eu. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  3. [3]
    Cain, Abigail (2016-10-17). "The Delacroix Masterpiece That Unites Picasso, Lichtenstein, and Jose Dávila". Artsy. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  4. [4]
    "Jose Dávila | History of Light, 2014". Art Basel. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  5. [5]
    Waddoups, Ryan (2021-05-07). "Jose Dávila's Eternal Pursuit of Equilibrium". SURFACE. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  6. [6]
    Porrero, Ricardo (2018-02-09). "Jose Dávila: Un diálogo entre el arte y la arquitectura". revistacodigo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  7. [7]
    Mancilla, Alejandro (2021-11-11). "Guadalajara: la ciudad del arte contemporáneo". Revista Travesías | Inspiración para viajeros (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  8. [8]
    Arriola, Magali. "Conversaciones: Gonzalo Lebrija, artista y co-director de OPA by Magali Arriola". LatinArt.com. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  9. [9]
    Navarro, Moisés (17 October 2016). "Una isla llamada Condominio Guadalajara | Página 24 Jalisco" (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  10. [10]
    "Jose Dàvila and Valeska Soares at Max Wigram, London — Mousse Magazine and Publishing". www.moussemagazine.it. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  11. [11]
    Dávila, Jose (2014). Jose Dávila, cutouts. Max Wigram Gallery. London. ISBN 978-0-9559713-2-7. OCLC 882891654.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. [12]
    Fundación Jumex (2016). Jose Dávila: El objeto y el entorno (in Spanish). Mexico City: Museo Jumex. p. 8.
  13. [13]
    "Jose Davila Creates Sculptures From Glass, Stones, and Gravity". Sight Unseen. 2017-04-24. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  14. [14]
    Ruiz, Isaura (2018). "Jose Dávila". www.artnexus.com. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  15. [15]
    Dávila, Jose (2019). Jose Dávila : pensar como una montaña = thinking like a mountain. Vanesa López García, Amanda de la Garza, Museo Amparo (Primera edición ed.). Puebla, México. ISBN 978-607-98627-9-4. OCLC 1285003423.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. [16]
    Dávila, Jose (2018). Jose Dávila : the feather & the elephant. Valentina Jager, Sacha Craddock, Brigitte Kölle, Alexandra Titze-Grabec, Amy Klement, Zara Morris. Berlin. ISBN 978-3-7757-4422-5. OCLC 1017606954.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. [17]
    "Sense of Place – LAND". nomadicdivision.org. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  18. [18]
    Lammers, Gerardo (2017-09-06). "Guadalajara artist Jose Dávila moves around LA". Artillery Magazine. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
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    "Events". The Centro Internazionale di Scultura. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    MuseoAmparo.Puebla. "Jose Dávila. Pensar como una montaña". museoamparo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  22. [22]
    "Sueño autosuficiente". www.chopo.unam.mx. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    "Jose Dávila at Franz Josefs Kai 3, Vienna – contemporaneities.com". Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    "Somewhere Behind the Eyes | Philara". www.philara.de. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    "Blueproject Foundation - Jose Dávila". www.blueprojectfoundation.org. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    "Uncharted Territory: Jose Dávila | Hamburger Kunsthalle". www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  27. [27]
    "Practical Structures | SCAD Museum of Art". www.scadmoa.org. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  28. [28]
    "Colección Jumex: Enfoques. Jose Dávila: El objeto y el entorno". Museo Jumex (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  29. [29]
    "The Elephant and the Feather, de Jose Dávila". GAS TV (in Spanish). 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  30. [30]
    "Jose Dávila in Momentum - Group Exhibition, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, The Netherlands - 最新消息 - Sean Kelly Gallery". www.skny.com. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  31. [31]
    "Full Moon". Voorlinden. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  32. [32]
    Greenberger, Alex (2019-09-12). "Biennale of Sydney Releases Artist List for 2020 Edition With Focus on Indigenous Artists". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    Festspiele, Berliner. "Walking Through Walls - Gropius Bau". www.berlinerfestspiele.de. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    Schaschl, Sabine. "Concrete Contemporary – Now is Always Also a Little of Yesterday and Tomorrow". www.hauskonstruktiv.ch. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    Flores, Tatiana (January 2019). "La XIII Bienal de La Habana". Art Nexus. 18 (113).
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    "Maurizio Cattelan – The Artist Is Present". Yuz Museum Shanghai. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    Dalati, Sammy (2018-05-31). "In the Garage: A Centre Pompidou Outpost Opens in Brussels". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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    "The Art Show – Art of the New Millennium in Taguchi Art Collection". Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  40. [40]
    "Centre Pompidou". Travesía Cuatro. 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  41. [41]
    "Museo Tamayo". old.museotamayo.org. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  42. [42]
    "Jose Dávila - Artist - Perrotin". www.perrotin.com. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  43. [43]
    Greenberger, Alex (2017-03-02). "2017 Baltic Artists' Awards Go to Jose Dávila, Eric N. Mack, Toni Schmale, and Shen Xin". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  44. [44]
    "El mexicano José Dávila gana el Premio de Arte Latinoamericano EFG-ArtNexus. Creación. ene 2015". Arteinformado (in Spanish). 2015-01-20. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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