Jose Dávila Thinks in Circles
A new exhibition of three interrelated bodies of work – including the largest single presentation of his paintings to date – sees the Mexican artist probe the ‘most Platonic of forms’
A new exhibition of three interrelated bodies of work – including the largest single presentation of his paintings to date – sees the Mexican artist probe the ‘most Platonic of forms’
‘It came to me through a simple reflection’, says Jose Dávila in this video, filmed in his expansive studio complex in Guadalajara, Mexico, ‘that gravity is one of the main forces for making matter circular.’ One sculpture, included in his new exhibition at Sean Kelly, New York, comprised of poured sand, which falls naturally into a circular mound, demonstrates this inherent tendency to forming circles: a motif developed through silkscreen and vinyl paintings (also incorporating fragments of text), which quote from circles found in major figures from 20th century art, from Sonia Delaunay to Frank Stella. Silkscreen prints on found cardboard also utilize the circular motif, referencing the cycles of repurposing and reuse.
The gravity which pulls the sand into its circular form is a force key to Dávila’s well known sculptures, where multiple materials and elements exist in fragile tension: ‘every element is needed for things to not collapse’, the artist explains in the video. The play of strong but delicate interrelations undergirds Dávila’s studio practice – working in an organized space, in concert with his team – as well as paralleling the complex conceptual interrelations manifested across media and genre that have marked his practice since its inception. ‘A circle is a departure,’ he notes, ‘but it is also an arrival’.
‘Jose Dávila: The Circularity of Desire’ is on view at Sean Kelly, New York until 19 June 2021.
