Jorge Yรกzpik:
From Sacred Geometries to Modern Topographies
Jorge Yรกzpik:
From Sacred Geometries to Modern Topographies
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Curator’s Statement
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Gallery Director’s Statement
10 Works 46
Exhibition History
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Curator’s Statement “Quien avanza creando algo nuevo lo hace como un remero, avanzando adelante pero remando de espaldas, mirando atrás, hacia el pasado, hacia aquello existente, para poder reinventar sus claves.” —Jorge Oteizai
In over three decades of artistic creation, Mexican sculptor Jorge Yázpik has challenged many of the elements that have become hallmarks of abstract sculpture. With works that can present themselves on walls, tabletops or floors, in vertical or horizontal positions (depending on the whim of the artist or the exigencies of the space), and in public works that rest casually on the ground as if they were native to their setting, Yázpik’s trajectory has stitched the seam between geometric abstraction and postminimalism. His works adapt to a versatile use of space and functionality while maintaining an essential individuality. In different scales, the benches constructed as public works for installation in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico and the rings he creates in wood, metal, crystal and semi-precious stones, annul the distance between viewer and object, work of art and furniture, personal adornment or performative tool, becoming the “malleable objects” of contemporary post-conceptual art.
Mentored by Mexican Ruptura artist Manuel Felguérez, one of the pioneers of Mexican Geometrism, Yázpik also acknowledges the influential Mexican artists Gunther Gerzso and Vicente Rojo, while his treatment of negative spaces advances a discourse introduced by Basque sculptors Eduardo Chillida and Jorge Oteiza, Catalan sculptor Julio González and Uruguayan artists Joaquín Torres García and Gonzalo Fonseca. Moreover, Yázpik revisits in a contemporary key the radiance and solemnity
UNAM Facultad de Arquitectura, Mexico City, 1999.
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UNAM Facultad de Arquitectura, Mexico City, 1999.
of Pre-Columbian sculpture, recovering a volumetric and spatial language whose expressive and conceptual vigor was hindered by centuries of Spanish Colonial rule, with the restriction of sculpture to religious representations. Central to Yázpik’s oeuvre is an approach to materials that focuses on reverence for their natural qualities, on keen observation, and on a negotiation with the limits they impose. His work is often carried out by taille directe, without models, particularly when working with stone. This respect for the medium is often expressed as a subtle subversion, to uncover the material’s internal paradox: crystal is 4
subjected to lapidary tooling, like a precious stone, to achieve a more organic, prismatic and elemental appearance than traditional manufacture can produce; jade and obsidian are presented in their unpolished majesty, revealing their crystalline luster only through carefully placed internal cuts; wood is “petrified” into steles; volcanic stone is often surgically deconstructed and reconstructed, preserving its original shape but now unveiling its gravitational burden. Every encounter with the material is approached by Yázpik, in his own words, by “clearing a path,”ii making great allowances for the fortuitous and accidental element. In the process of “vitalizing” natural materials
as prima materia, the artist negotiates cuts and carvings in the medium’s own native language, in an interplay which is both instinctual and intellectual. Yázpik’s stone sculptures reflect upon the legacy of ancient art and architecture, particularly Pre-Columbian Atlantean megaliths, stone artifacts and emblematic architectural reliefs, with their focus on native materials and sacred geometries, their hermetic silences and enigmatic graphic expressiveness. The artist finds additional inspiration in the intricate and meditative spaces and abstract forms of Islamic architecture and the
asceticism of Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetics, while acknowledging the enduring legacy of Western Classical art by anchoring his work in the proportions of the Golden Ratio. Yázpik’s labyrinthine negative spaces, with their precisely incised geometrical surfaces, contrast the organic outer contours of stone, pointing to an integration of opposites. They speak of the coexistence of duality in unity: duality of the organic and inorganic whenever our tactile sense is called upon to explore contradistinctive textures; duality in the contrast between a monolithic concentration and
Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli, Mexico City, 2015.
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a receptive, concave morphology; unity in the compact defiance of space and eschewal of symbolic systems and cosmological schemes. Representing nothing but themselves, liberated from the incongruous and the transitory, Yázpik’s works stand autonomously from mental constructs and enter the realm of the arcane, transcendent and unchanged. Rather than relying on recognizable icons to convey formal qualities, the artist employs a non-symbolic language made of visual elements and spatial proportions — a language that precedes words and images to speak to the viewer of mental architectures, homeostasis and immanence, as a repository of sacred knowledge, a memorial to transhistorical time lost in the folds of our collective memory. Through an exchange between the material’s idiosyncrasy and his own rigorously abstract lexicon, Yázpik engages the viewer visually, tactually, spatially and architecturally. His site-specific works merge diverse elements of light, water, vegetation and surrounding structures. Monumentality, however, is not exclusive of the artist’s large-scale works: regardless of dimensions, all of his sculptures demand direct engagement with their
environment, in which they abide as an imperturbable presence, juxtaposing and containing movement and stillness, corporeality and nothingness, origin and destination. Yázpik’s work has been featured internationally in solo and collective exhibitions, including the Museo Soumaya, Museo de Arte Moderno, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Museo Diego Rivera (Anahuacalli) and Casa Barragán in Mexico City, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Cali, Colombia, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Petit Palais in Paris, the 2000 Expo Hannover, Germany and the 2015 Expo Milano, Italy. This exhibition is a first attempt at presenting to the U.S. public the breadth and diversity of Yázpik’s work across a variety of media. Gabriella Boschi Scott, M.A.
“Whoever advances something new does so like a rower, moving forward but rowing backwards, looking back, towards the past, towards something that already exists, but being able to reinvent its central keys.” i
Jorge Yázpik, Telephone interview with the author. April 21, 2015.
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Gallery Director’s Statement Fundamental characteristics of historical experiences and discourses circulate through Jorge Yázpik’s sculptural practice. In a wide range of materials and in dimensions from the relatively small scale of rings (some wearable, others just implying the presence of the hand), totems rising from floors or on pedestals, and to monoliths transforming public spaces, Yázpik’s works carry the history of the artist’s actions and the mysteries that extend beyond everyday experience. His works present inextricable relationships between phenomenological experiences and discourses of art history and the opportunities and fractures they provoke. As composed by Yázpik, stone, crystal, metal, wood, carbon, and even paper present themselves in new contexts while they also maintain the elemental character of their origins. Yázpik composes with line, form, shape, and the interplay of solid mass and open volume. Sculptural works and designs for architectural spaces demonstrate Yázpik’s interest in the possibilities of exchange among the artist, created works, and a range of viewers. Yázpik’s objects are vehicles that gain force relative to viewers. Diverse trajectories of abstraction, minimalism, and environmental art provide critical perspective for
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UNAM Facultad de Arquitectura, Mexico City, 2004.
how his individual works, while unique within their own dimensions and idiosyncratic histories, have profound resonance in their extension beyond the limitations of their frames, pedestals, and surveyed locations. Subtle play with color and shadow seduces the eye and body to travel and probe the legacies wrought by artistic enterprise. Most of Yázpik’s works remain untitled in order to avoid unproductive connotations. However, his endeavors suggest provocative study and critique of significant issues in contemporary art. Indeed, as the postmodern period demands an active
awareness and questioning of cultural discourses, Yázpik stimulates consideration of contemporary art and experience as new invention in conversation with a range of broader associations. The visual culture of Mexico incorporates the histories of the plurality of pre-Hispanic cultures, colonial rupture and exchange, and the modern state into the twentyfirst century. Indigenous cultural heritage survives as a foundation among a range
Centro Histórico, Mexico City, 2012.
of global influences. Yázpik’s work functions amid discussions and debates regarding the universal impulses of individual creative experiment as well as consideration of the influence of European and U.S. art and architecture in the national context. His works evoke the monumentality of ancient forms, reference the aesthetic and social ideals of international styles and movements, and insist upon the presence of engagement extending from the artist’s eye, hand, and mind to others. We are honored to have the opportunity to host this first solo exhibition in the United States of the remarkable works of Jorge Yázpik. The diligence and insights of Sofía Yázpik were central to this project. We are especially thankful for Gabriella Boschi Scott’s dedication and vision. Dr. Scott A. Sherer, Ph.D.
Untitled, 2007.
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Mastaba 20.51.44
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Laser-cut MWV 2
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Laser-cut MVW
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Exhibition History Individual Exhibitions 2016
Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, México Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán, UNAM Galería del Seminario de Cultura Mexicana, México, D.F. Instituto Politécnico Nacional Zacatenco. México, D.F.
2015
Galería José Luis Benlliure, Facultad de Arquitectura. UNAM Museo Estudio Diego Rivera - Anahuacalli. México, D.F.
2014
Casa Gilardi, México, D.F. Museo Fernando García-Ponce/Macay, Mérida, Yucatán MuVarte, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
2013
Feria de Arte Contemporáneo Zona Maco, México, D.F.
2012
Galería Arte Hoy, México, D.F.
2011
Espacio Escultórico “La Telaraña”, Oaxaca, Oax.
2010
Museo Regional, Guadalajara, Jalisco Palacio de la Autonomía, UNAM, México, D.F.
2009
Centro Cultural Clavijero, Morelia, Michoacán Universidad Iberoamericana, México, D.F.
Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, CONCULTA, México, D.F. La vigilia en el reflejo, Homenaje a Jorge Luis Borges, Festival Cervantino, Guanajuato, Gto. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Aguascalientes, Ags. Doce Esculturas, Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora - CONACULTA, México, D.F. Galería del Sur, UAM, México, D.F.
2005
1998 Jorge Yázpik. Museo de Casa Luis Barragán, México, D.F. Piedras sagradas, Museo Nacional de Antropología, México, D.F. 1997 Galería Le Laboratoire, México, D.F. Museo de Escultura Contemporánea Federico Silva, San Luis Potosí, SLP Palacio de la Autonomía, UNAM, México, D.F.
2004
Museo Macay, Mérida, Yucatán Facultad de Arquitectura, Galería José Luis Benllure, Campus UNAM, México, D.F.
Montañas hondonadas plataformas Galería Metropolitana, UAM, México, D.F. Galerie Ocurrence, Montreal, Canada
2003
Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Zapopan, Jalisco.
1996 1995
2002
Galería Quetzalli, Oaxaca, Oax. I.T.E.S.M. campus Edo. De México, Edo. De México
2001 .
I.T.E.S.M., campus Edo. De México, Edo. De México Galería Jala, Xalapa, Veracruz Pinacoteca Diego Rivera, Xalapa, Veracruz
1994
Galería Jesús Drexel, Monterrey, N.L. Museo de Monterrey, Monterrey, N.L. Museo Biblioteca Pape, Monclova, Coahuila
1993
Galería del ITAM, México, D.F. Galería Juan Martín, México, D.F.
2000
Centro Cultural Mexicano, Paris, France
1991
Centro Cultural Jardín Borda, Cuernavaca, Morelos
2008 2006
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1999
Voces de la materia, Centro Cultural Jardín Borda, Cuernavaca, Morelos Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (MACO), Oaxaca, Oaxaca Museo Soumaya, México, D.F. Museo de Arte Moderno, México, D.F. Museo Rufino Tamayo, México D.F.
Centro Cu ltural Cohauilense, Saltillo, Coahuila
Group Exhibitions
1990
2015
Contemporary Mexican Sculptures, four visionary artists – 1989 Grosvenor Garden, London, UK Aleatorio 3 – Galería Ethra, México, D.F. Expo Milano 2015 –World Expo, Milan, Italy - Mexico 1986 Pavilion
2014
Colectiva Torre 41, Torre 41, México, D.F.
2005
El mito de dos volcanes, Palacio de Bellas Artes, INBA, México, D.F.
Arte mexicano contemporáneo, Universidad de las Américas, México, D.F. Panorama Uno, Galería Expositum, México, D.F. V Bienal Americana de Artes Gráficas, Museo de Arte Moderno de Tertulia, Cali, Colombia
1985
Diálogo de los ‘80, Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo de San José, California, EU Galería Metropolitana, UAM, México, D.F. Aleatorio 2, Galería Juan Martín, México, D.F.
1984 2000 Expo 2000 –World Expo, Hanover, Germany – Mexico Pavilion 1999 Homenaje a Rufino Tamayo, Oaxaca, Oax. Siete escultores mexicanos en este fin de siglo, Centro Cultural Tijuana, Baja California Proyectos para un proyecto, Museo Biblioteca Pape, Monclova, Coahuila 1983 1998-99 Pausas escultóricas: Integrantes del Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte del CNCA, exposición itinerante
Galería 9, Lima, Perú Diez años de lucha de la COCEI, Foro de Arte Contemporáneo, INBA, México, D.F. Una década emergente, Museo Universitario del Chopo, UNAM, México, D.F. Arte Contemporáneo en Latinoamérica, Galerías de la ENAP, UNAM, México, D.F. IV Encuentro Nacional de Arte Joven, Casa de la Cultura, Aguascalientes, Ags. Galería del Auditorio Nacional, México, D.F.
2001
Soles mexicanos/Soleils mexicains, Petit Palais, Paris, France
1982
1998
Siete escultores, Galería Juan Martín, México, D.F.
1997
Escultura itinerante, Centro de Cultura de Taxco, Casa Borda, Guerrero; exposición itinerante por el interior 1981 del país III Bienal del Museo de Monterrey, Monterrey, N.L. 1980 Primera Bienal Tridimensional, Centro Nacional de las Artes, México, D.F. Salón Bancomer, México, D.F.; exposición itinerante La revolución del papel, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (MACO), Oax. 30 años de arte joven, Salón de triunfadores, exposición 1979 itinerante por el interior del país
1996 1993 1992
Arte objeto, Galería Chapultepec, INBA, México, D.F. Trastiempo, Nueva pintura mexicana, Museo de Arte Moderno, México, D.F. Nuevas tendencias, Galerías de la ENAP, UNAM, México, D.F. Homenaje a Marino Marini, Galerías de la ENAP, UNAM, México, D.F. Concurso Nacional de Arte Joven, Casa de la Cultura de Aguascalientes, Ags. Concurso Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Palacio de Bellas Artes, INBA, México, D.F. Primera Bienal Internacional de Montevideo, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Montevideo, Uruguay Aleatorio 1, Galerías del ENAP, UNAM, México, D.F.
Other
Tercera muestra de becarios del FONCA, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Carrillo Gil, México, D.F. 2004 Escultura 1995, Galería Zona, México, D.F. Escultores latinoamericanos, Casa de México, Paris, France; exposición itinerante al Museo de Mont-de- 2014 Marsan y el Museo Despiau-Wlérick, France Primera Bienal de Escultura, Museo de Monterrey, N.L.
Taller experimental de diseño espacial, Facultad de Arquitectura – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Taller experimental de diseño espacial, Facultad de Arquitectura – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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Bibliography Aguilera, Alejandro, “Jorge Yázpik, avances de investigación.” Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Feria de Arte Contemporáneo Zona Maco, 2013. 93-96. Aura, Alejandro, Isaac Masri, and Alberto Blanco. Siete Escultores: Primavera 2000. México, D.F.: Impronta, 2000. Avila, Sonia. “Reúne Piezas Sensoriales.” Excelsior [Mexico City] 15 May 2015, Expresiones sec.: 6. Bernard, Héliane, and Eduardo Zamora. Soleils Mexicains. Paris: Mangoe, 2000. Barreiro Cavestani, Javier. “La luz es muy silenciosa – Entrevista con Jorge Yázpik.” El poeta y su trabajo. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. Invierno 2001. 84-90. Contreras, Sandra. Jorge Yázpik: Levedad de la Piedra: Marzo-junio, 2002. Oaxaca, México: Bodega Quetzalli, 2002. Emerich, Luis Carlos., Raquel Tibol, and Enrique Franco Calvo. Nueva plástica mexicana. México: Editorial Diana, 1997. Escultura mexicana: De la academia a la instalación. México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 2001. Gardiner, Virginia. “Mexico City Elemental Architecture.” Dwell Oct. 2003. 96-105. González Gortázar, Fernando. “Las visiones rupestres de Jorge Yázpik.” Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F: Casa Luis Barragán, 2008. 35-40. Gordon, José. “La música de las piedras.” Revista de la Universidad de México. Sept. 2004. 43-48. Kassner, Lily S. de. Diccionario de escultores mexicanos del siglo XX. México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1997. Kassner, Lily S. de., and Javier Hinojosa. Tiempo, piedra y barro. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2003. Mallé, Mauricio. La vigilia en el reflejo: Jorge Luis Borges. Ambientación borgiana con obra de Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Museo del Pueblo, 1999. 9-14. Meléndrez Bayardo, Judith and Yáñez, Carlos, “Jorge Yázpik en la Facultad de Arquitectura,” Repentina, Boletín electrónico de la Facultad de Arquitectura UNAM, Junio-Julio 2015: 37-43. Olea, Héctor. Jorge Yázpik – doce esculturas. México, D.F.: Jardín del Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, 1999. Rivera Velázquez, Mariano. “La mirada ritual.” Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Casa Luis Barragán, 2008. Sainz, Ignacio. “Testimonios pétreos.” Revista Casa del Tiempo. Universidad Autónoma de México, Feb. 2004. Sainz, Luis Ignacio. “Intuiciones volumétricas en papel.” Revista Casa del Tiempo. Universidad Autónoma de México, Oct. 2001. Sánchez, Alberto Ruy, Manuel Felguérez, Mercedes Oteyza Y Felguérez, Teresa del Conde, and Luis-Martín Lozano. Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguérez. Mexico City: Artes De México, 2002.
Exhibition Catalogs Jorge Yázpik – Anahuacalli. México, D.F.: Museo Diego Rivera – Anahuacalli, 2016. Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Casa Gilardi, 2016. Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Feria de Arte Contemporáneo Zona Maco, 2013. Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Galería Arte Hoy, 2012. Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Universidad Iberoamericana, 2009. Yázpik, Jorge, Alejandro Pastrana, and Solís Olguín Felipe R. Piedras Sagradas: El México Precolombino Y La Mirada De Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2008. Jorge Yázpik. México, D.F.: Casa Luis Barragán, 2008. Yázpik, Jorge, and María Todd. Yázpik: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Arquitectura, Ciudad de México, 2004-2005. Mexico City. Jorge Yázpik: Esculturas. Monterrey, México: Tecnológico de Monterrey, 2001. Jorge Yázpik: Escultura: del 4 de Diciembre de 1997 al 1 Marzo de 1998 Sala José Juan Tablada, Museo de Arte Moderna. México, D.F.: La Sociedad Mexicana de Arte Moderna, 1997. Jorge Yázpik: Esculturas. Exposición 12 de Junio-4 de Agosto de 1996. México, D.F.: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 1996. Jorge Yázpik: Esculturas. México: Galería Juan Martín, 1992.
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This catalog has been published in conjunction with the exhibition:
Jorge Yázpik: Sacred Geometries and Modern Topographies October 12 - November 16, 2016
UTSA Art Gallery 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, Texas, 78249 210-458-4352 art.utsa.edu Curator: Gabriella Boschi Scott Gallery Director: Scott A. Sherer Photography:Eduardo Landa and Emily Verkamp Catalog Design: Vikky Jones © 2016 UTSA Art Gallery The University of Texas at San Antonio All rights reserved. Copyright of all artwork remains with the artist. ISBN: 978-1-4951-6823-9 This exibition is sponsored in part by:
Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992