PA B L O G Ó M E Z U R I B E Suramericana Art Gallery cra. 64b # 49a–30, Medellín, Colombia. September 6–November 4, 2013. curator Alberto Sierra Maya.
was also (t)here, but just by chance I was not another one. I have no consent to speak for them; I cannot represent their pain, as this is impossible. Currently, our only similarity is the place we once shared. (t)here, I stood in the center; in the middle ground that is generated by the extremes, which I would later call the third space and through my artistic practice, I am trying to understand. I seek and plan situations as a pretext to perceive what happened (t)here. When drawing the facts, I accept the impossibility of being objective. Making scale models is the way to present what could happen again.
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I equally consider the actions that occur (t)here, in the space, generated by either side of a conflict: Burn, demolish, explode. With my work, I plan to reduce the matter and its possible implications.
Pablo Gómez Uribe nue va york, 20 12.
In Pursuit of a Perfect Demolition
A text by C amilo Leyva
View: El Gordon’s workplace (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
6 The year 2013 has brought us much joy, seeing the consolidation supported in Mercantile El Gordon Demolition has a qualified human team with the necessary experience to perform Registration Number 21–491837–12 of a new company coming to the world. I am pleased to announce the founding of a company that is forcefully entering the marketplace. El Gordon Demolition s.a.s. has come to stay and fill a void in the sector of Colombian specialized services; this niche needed a fresh, innovative competitor to do high–quality work. Now, fortunately, we have it among us.
excellent quality work. This team has been trained in numerous education programs in the United States. Its directors have been influenced by world-class names in demolition, for example: the founder of the cross-disciplinary studies to identify useless lots, “architect” Matta–Clark; the German expert in analysis and decomposition of structural systems, Professor Haacke; and the Lebanese master in communications and creation of imprecise coalitions, Mr. Raad. Likewise, Professors Dr. Fusco and Dr. Geyer were exceptional guides
detail # 1,2,3,4 props for a perfect demolition. 2013 lying shelf #1. 2013 Various objects on vertical wooden shelves 180 x 95 x 45 cm lying shelf #2. 2013 Various objects on vertical wooden shelves 180 x 95 x 45 cm lying shelf #3. 2013 Various objects on vertical wooden shelves 180 x 95 x 45 cm uniform (back). 2013 Plastisol on fabric 160 x 70 cm Edition of 5
during the training process, thanks to their experience in the early detection of “theoretical� fissures and their subsequent systemic analysis, they pushed towards the development of an ascertained strategic plan for each project. These famous people from the demolition sector have been part of the comprehensive, state-of-the art training that will allow El Gordon Demolition to outperform its competitors in the provision of services and in the generation of informed clients, capable of seeing how inhabitable human structures are affected on a large scale. This company has participated in the
most important business symposia to study the causes of the impact of changes in the city during times of extreme instability. Thus, it has been able to understand how the persons involved in the demolition process make decisions and whom those will affect. In the field of work that includes the territorial metaphor and the studies of soil theories, the company has established its market focus. To understand what El Gordon Demolition does, we have to observe its products and notice the parallel that exists between its projects and the events taking place in demolitions
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Detail: el gordon’s desk. 2013 promoting an idea. 2013 Medellín’s Yellow Pages Ink on yellow paper 28.5 x 30 cm time magazine. september 17, 2010 Issue Ink on paper 26.5 x 20cm company stationary: letterhead, business cards and envelopes. 2013 Ink on tracing paper Variable dimensions
8 nationwide. Remember! If you need to remove a wall, enlarge a room, change your home or work environment, and even tear down a building completely, visit our website www.elgordondemolition.com which will guide you through the portfolio of services that this new company has. My text for the exhibition Here/There, presented by Pablo Gómez Uribe in the Suramericana Art Gallery in Medellín, Colombia would begin as read before. I know Pablo thanks to the
random fact that brought us together in a Master’s program in the United States. Therefore, I will refer to him as Pablo, with no academic formalism. After following his creative process for two years, during which time we had endless conversations about his work, I must confess that the above text is the product of one of those sessions: condensed in a cloud between a marathon of words and fatigue. Was it an image that formed in the silence of one of those circular dialogues? I thought about writing the public presentation for the company El Gordon Demolition amid unstoppable allegations, while we placed an order in
Detail #1: designing the accident / the impossibility of being objective. 20013 proposal for a corporate sign. 2013 Cardboard letters Variable dimensions
crooked shelf. 2013 Various objects on horizontal wooden shelves 180 x 195 x 45 cm props for a perfect demolition. 2013 Cardboard hammer Variable dimensions Detail #4: props for a perfect demolition. 2013
our favorite Polish restaurant. Now I begin to write with the critic’s hat on: Pablo’s work focuses on examining the entropic processes of the city, of the world. He is marveled by this tendency towards chaos originally studied by thermodynamics, opposite to what he learned as an architect. Challenging time and the conditions of the territories where it is built is one of the bylaws of Architecture, all aimed at perpetuating rituals and human life: shelter and fire. There exists, however, a nuisance when the subject of architecture arises in our conversations.
Going from one side to the other, Pablo crosses the edge that separates two disciplines: art and architecture. This exhibition is the manifestation of the drive to create a space where stubbornness and questions arise, fine-tuning the context of the work. Every detail is woven in the filigree of a complex system that has an endless amount of meanings. These meanings are part of Pablo’s world, a world that escapes and settles down. However, there are clues to identify meaning in the details, discover a strategy of spatial management as a master plan, almost to the point of conspiracy. I imagine a hand of titanic proportions
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
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moving the pieces of the world puzzle, making decisions in the distance. This fiction-film metaphor makes me think of the pieces on the surface of the exhibition room; that is, the visitors and the works. All are part of a planned disorder, strategically distributed; it is a disorder that apparently has no other way of being, but it has been cautiously arranged and conceived down to the last millimeter. Entropy is again manifested with this dynamic flow of processes; it is equal to our conversations; it comes and goes, lost and ascertained. It is ascertained when it is lost, when it goes to places we have never imagined. And so it is with
the works when there is a vibration in the form or content the conceptual proposal is enriched. When we see the hand of the draftsman, an action of the artist in video, a fissure in the concrete cylinder, a change of hue in a map, a press holding the surfaces of an absurd shelf. It also shows that this work is a map of the life and fiction that happens between New York and MedellĂn, where Pablo understands that —in one way or another— we make decisions that affect space, that move us in our daily lives. It affects life in our routine and in the political. We know the power that human actions have on space, how
designing the accident. 2013 1/8� metal sheet and paint 70 x 100 x 7 cm Detail progress. 2013 6350 cardboard bricks 19 x 9 x 6 cm e/o proposal for a fire. 2013 Color pencil on wet paper 250 x 150 cm
difficult our relationship with geography is. To be more precise: space is not just that place which unfolds before our senses; it is more than an extension and a receptacle of bodies. It is the catalyst of our interactions at all levels. That’s where this work displays its greatest power, in the recognition of a broad, yet accurate, definition of space and in proposing a judicious analysis of the entropic processes within the social and political systems of the urban. In each work, there is not a single detail taken for granted, it is covered by layers of meaning that accumulate a sedimentary thought. This process focuses on the analy-
sis of change in the initially perceived state of the system. Pablo poses questions with his works: How do inhabitable structures change in two different cities? What violence/forces are behind this change? How do we witness these transformations that are experienced in everyday life and when we have a historical perspective? Where do we stand and how do we act toward these changes? How do we represent this change? Is this change represented, presented or composed? The answer is in the medium, in the middle, as Pablo thinks. Actually, the artist is responding with another question so that we can continue to re-
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
12 volve around the work. He makes and makes, thinking while making. He finds the clues in the inexhaustible and precise action that converts each work in a multi–faceted crystal that reflects in infinite directions: maps, chairs, cement blocks, drawings made with pixels of color, models, video documentation of actions, sandpaper, thin layers of newspapers captured in tape, collections of building pieces, posters, fictions, ads, blueprints that fade, mis-representations, interpretations of frightening statistics, distorted objects, intervened photos and strategies to demolish buildings‌ (T)here is Pablo’s work.
proposal to demolish carl andre’s manifest destiny. 2013 Video projection and pencil on yellow tracing paper Variable dimensions
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how to show something that is disappearing. 2013 uv weathered cardboard 50 x 35 cm each letter how to show something that is disappearing (test results). 2013 Ink on paper 28 x 21 cm each page
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post new york / one week of accidents. 2013 New York Post headers collaged onto The New York Times pages with manually eliminated text and photos 65 x 30 cm e/o Detail post new york friday june 14, 2013
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
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unstable replica. 2013 Wooden chair in equilibrium 60 x 45 x 55 cm unstable situation. 2013 14 digital prints on paper 19 x 34 cm e/o Edition of 3
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documenting an accident in color. 2011 Inkjet on paper 70 x 150 cm documenting an accident IN black and white. 2011 Xerox copy 70 x 150 cm
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instructions to deactivate a bomb. 2013 lego bricks, wooden table, color pencil on grid paper Variable dimensions Detail instructions to deactivate a bomb. 2013
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demo training #1 smoke as a material. 2011 Digital video and sound 3 Minutes
demo training #2 proposal for a fire. 2011 Digital video and sound 3 Minutes
demo training #3 designing the accident. 2011 Digital video and sound 3 Minutes
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Video Stills demo training #1 smoke as a material. 2011
Video Stills demo training #2 proposal for a fire. 2011
Video Stills demo training #3 designing the accident. 2011
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
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Detail paused objects. 2013
paused objects. 2013 Structural test cylinders collected in construction sites in MedellĂn Concrete and wood 25 x 500 x 100 cm
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designing the accident / proposal for a flood. 2013 Farnsworth house lego model, acrylic resin, cardboard box, wood, c clamps, digital frame and extension cord 70 x 140 x 70 cm
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designing the accident #3. 2013 Wooden panel, gold vinyl letters and metalic hooks 100 x 140 cm brooklyn bridge paint. 2013 Brooklyn Bridge paint debris on wooden frame 150 x 110 cm
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
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metropolitan lumber and hardware store #1 (soho). 2011 Digital print 107 x 93 cm Edition of 3
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how to show something that is disappearing/ metropolitan lumber and hardware store (soho). Alteration. 2013 uv weathered cardboard and wooden frames 50 x 35 cm e/o how to show something that is disappearing/ metropolitan lumber and hardware store (soho). Mechanical. 2013 uv weathered cardboard and wooden frames 50 x 35 cm e/o how to show something that is disappearing/ metropolitan lumber and hardware store (soho). New Building. 2013 uv weathered cardboard and wooden frames 50 x 35 cm e/o
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proposal for an abandoned building. 2013 Building model abandoned for 10 years, cardboard and wood 70 x 50 x 50cm Detail proposal for an abandoned building. 2013
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exit. 2013 Cardboard and color paper 21 x 28 cm
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
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stack of cracks. 2013 Cardboard, wood 120 x 90 x 110 cm Details stack of cracks. 2013
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raw material for a crack. 2013 Cardboard and wood 120 x 90 x 110 cm Detail raw material for a crack. 2013
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urban planning. 2013 Newsprint paper and wood 120 x 90 x 110 cm Detail urban planing. 2013 Newsprint paper and wood 90 x 120 x 110 cm
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reality crumbles representation. 2013 20 cardboard hammers, clay bricks from Dead Horse Bay and plywood boards 100 x 70 cm e/o
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
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mede yorker / a territory is not just the space that is in front of us (billboard). 2013 Wooden letters, paint and metallic structure 35 x 50 x 10 cm mede yorker / a territory is not just the space that is in front of us. 2013 Wooden letters and paint 160 x 600 x 15 cm
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mede yorker. 2013 31 collages 27 x 35 cm e/o
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the decision table. 2013 Hardboard and wooden table with clay sculptures 70 x 70 x 140 cm objects in a state of collapse. 2013 White clay 20 x 10 x 10 cm objects in a state of collapse. 2013 Grey clay 20 x 10 x 10 cm objects in a state of collapse. 2013 Beige clay 20 x 10 x 10 cm collapsed objects. 2013 Clay debris Variable dimensions
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a territory is not just the space that is in front of us / mede yorker. 2013 Wooden frames, wooden legs and print on paper Variable dimensions
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Details a territory is not just the space that is in front of us/ mede yorker. 2013
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dear doris: who is designing our cracks? 2013 Cardboard bricks 6 x 190 x 250 cm
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Details dear doris: who is designing our cracks? 2013
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banner: in persuit of a perfect demolition. 2013 Screen on fabric 70 x 1000 cm
designing the accident / the impossibility of being objective. 2013 8 drawings, color pencil on yellow paper 28 x 21 cm e/o
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(t)here we grow again! 2013 Grid paper 50 x 185 cm
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View (t)here. 2013 Mixed media installation Variable dimensions
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ideological documents / legal permit to demolish. 2013 Ink on official document 31.5 x 21.7 cm e/o
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one week of accidents. 2013 Color tape on New York Times and New York Post Newspapers 120 x 420 cm
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Details one week of accidents. 2013
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HERE
A text by Esteban Restrepo
They left the door open; we don’t know if they did it on purpose or not. We entered out of curiosity. Behind the desk, there was no one; the chair was empty. However, it didn’t seem to be deserted. “What is all of this doing here?” we asked as we checked out everything inside. We saw maps, models, front pages of newspapers, magazine clippings, ads, slogans, material samples, debris, etc. We proposed several hypotheses: It could be both an architecture or advertising agency, a deposit for materials or the site of a newspaper. We even thought that it could be a military barracks where they were planning the next attacks on the enemy over there or the bunker of a terrorist organization here. We exceeded appearances when – rummaging through the desk drawers – we found El Gordon stationery. Everything we had seen changed its countenance radically. So, this was the ongoing projects of a demolition company or a single demolition project led to full completeness, or the manifest delirium of planning the perfect demolition in which all options are contemplated, in which the smallest detail is planned so that the desired accident works perfectly without leaving any suspicion of the true intent of its creator. Planning an accident? Some of us laughed at the nonsense. Then, as we looked around again, we got scared when our security was suddenly threatened. And, what if the few things we thought were stable – the walls of our own homes, the asphalt paving on the streets, the streetlights – were vulnerable? And if something or someone had conceived from the start its own collapse and expiration and made us believe everything was an accident? We became silent; we became still. “But why is all of this here?” we asked ourselves when we noticed just how much there was: photos of buildings, images, maps; it was from there. Someone dared to venture that it was a model: From here to there and from there to here. “A demolition model? But how is that possible? We became still once again. Someone thought, standing up and picking up the partially destroyed cardboard hammer from one of the shelves, without daring to say it out loud, that here, in El Gordon, reality – here – ends up ruining the imagination, there. Being in constant transit, neither here nor there, or simultaneously here and there. Versed in customs measures, translations and exchanges. Victim of searches and interrogations. He knows that everything there has an impact here, as if the here and the there were – in the end – the same thing, as if a fine line joins them, impacting each other. 54
THERE
A text by Esteban Restrepo
They left the door open; we don’t know if they did it on purpose or not. We entered out of curiosity. Behind the desk, there was no one; the chair was empty. However, it didn’t seem to be deserted. “What is all of this doing there?” we asked as we checked out everything inside. We saw maps, models, front pages of newspapers, magazine clippings, ads, slogans, material samples, debris, etc. We proposed several hypotheses: It could be both an architecture or advertising agency, a deposit for materials or the site of a newspaper. We even thought that it could be a military barracks where they were planning the next attacks on the enemy over there or the bunker of a terrorist organization there. We exceeded appearances when – rummaging through the desk drawers – we found El Gordon stationery. Everything we had seen changed its countenance radically. So, this was the ongoing projects of a demolition company or a single demolition project led to full completeness, or the manifest delirium of planning the perfect demolition in which all options are contemplated, in which the smallest detail is planned so that the desired accident works perfectly without leaving any suspicion of the true intent of its creator. Planning an accident? Some of us laughed at the nonsense. Then, as we looked around again, we got scared when our security was suddenly threatened. And, what if the few things we thought were stable – the walls of our own homes, the asphalt paving on the streets, the streetlights – were vulnerable? And if something or someone had conceived from the start its own collapse and expiration and made us believe everything was an accident? We became silent; we became still. “But why is all of this there?” we asked ourselves when we noticed just how much there was: photos of buildings, images, maps; it was from here. Someone dared to venture that it was a model: From there to here and from here to there. “A demolition model? But how is that possible? We became still once again. Someone thought, standing up and picking up the partially destroyed cardboard hammer from one of the shelves, without daring to say it out loud, that there, in El Gordon, reality – there – ends up ruining the imagination, here. Being in constant transit, neither there nor here, or simultaneously there and here. Versed in customs measures, translations and exchanges. Victim of searches and interrogations. He knows that everything here has an impact there, as if the there and the here were – in the end – the same thing, as if a fine line joins them, impacting each other. 55
www.pablogomezuribe.com www.elgordondemolition.com graphic design: alejo@cuar topiso.com