September 9–November 5, 2016
Opening: September 8, 2016, 6:30pm
Proyectos Monclova
Colima 55, Col. Roma Norte
06700 Mexico City
proyectosmonclova.com
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More than a small retrospective, this new exhibition by Eduardo Terrazas offers itself as a tentative to encompass the wide register of techniques and mediums that the artist has been exploring since the very beginning of his career. However, it can also be seen as an exposition that seeks to recapitulate the long trajectory of Terrazas as a visual artist, given that the earliest piece in the show dates back to 1970—or, at least this is the year of the drawing, which gives the shape to a painting on view at the exhibit: a scheme of contrasting colors that welcomes the spectator at the end of the gallery’s staircase and that reminds us of the discussions that took place, at that time, over the interaction of line and color. This means that, on top of the variety of processes and techniques, this show embraces more than 40 years of plastic experimentation.
Since the ’60s, Eduardo Terrazas has complemented his architectonic practice with a two-dimensional investigation—running parallel to the design and construction of buildings—which, without a doubt, feeds on his understanding of what it implies to work with volumes and physical structures. Hence much of his work as an artist has an openly constructivist air that, occasionally, can surpass the surface and extend into space. This is exemplified in an extensive mural, displayed in the gallery’s patio, assembling a series of wooden blocks, inked with aniline. This piece, 14.23 (2014), is accompanied by three additional works from the series “Everyday Museum,” where the image is constructed according to a logic of progressive cancelation of empty space that is being filled with elements taken from the everyday, such as wooden rulers, toys, dusters or fibers used to wash. Thus, the organization of found material becomes the crucial part of a process that determines the final form.
Something rather similar occurs with the body of work made with wool yarn on wooden board from the series “Possibilities of a Structure,” of which five are on view in this show. As the title might allude, these pieces present each a new possibility for a determined structure, which Terrazas outlined in the ’70s. From the combination of elementary shapes the artist creates a complex visual experience that emerges through the possible permutations of the system.
The series of acrylic paintings entitled “Windows” derive from a series of drawings that Terrazas executed in 1982, where he not only sketched their patterns and shapes but also the colors that 30 years later would be materialized. These images delve into an isometric reflection, which offers the exploration of different possibilities of one and the same geometric idea: perspective.
There are two further bodies of work that compliment the rather known plastic meditations by Terrazas in this exhibition. The first one, Cubes, comprises sculptural compositions combining a series of cross-linked cubic trusses made from tree branches inked with lively colors. Here, once again reappears the spirit of repetition: a scheme is developed, following a predetermined idea.
It would seem that the sequence of photographs on view derive from an entirely different investigation, as they appear to have no relation to geometry, yet, in fact, they embrace the same serial spirit that dominates the rest of his work. These are a series of photographs that Eduardo Terrazas took in the ’70s while on strolls through downtown Mexico City, capturing the variety of curious shop window compositions. Be it underwear, mirrors, silverware, laces, or rasps, the salesmen staged arrangements that resemble the ones Terrazas created in “Everyday Museum,” where the repetition of a one and the same element is the constant.
–María Minera