Ulrik López at Galería Agustina Ferreyra

Artist: Ulrik López

Exhibition title: ¡¡¡!!!

Venue: Galería Agustina Ferreyra, Mexico City, Mexico

Date: February 4 – March 9, 2019

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Galería Agustina Ferreyra, Mexico City

Galería Agustina Ferreyra is pleased to present “¡¡¡!!!” Ulrik López’s second exhibition at the gallery. Through drawing, weaving and sculpture, the work of Ulrik López, (México City, 1989) takes as a starting point, objects and phenomenons addressed by archaeology in order to approach and study different notions pertaining world views, the ritual, and the meaning of these objects and phenomenons in our present, which the artist later disassembles, questions and translates into sculptures and drawings.

On this occasion, López presents a recent body of work, developed over the last years on investigations conducted first in the Mexican and Puerto Rican caribbean, and late continued in Colombia, during a recent residency. His current interest is oriented towards more immaterial practices such as dance, sound its articulation into what we understand today as music.

The title of the exhibition, references a graphic way to accentuate, express, or emphasize something whether in the form of a scream, a clamor, a cry or a sigh, and both personally and collectively. For López, formal representations of a these expressions can be found throughout different cultures, and in most cases they share the same characteristics. On one hand they

are presented as a form of communication and distinction in relation to the ‘other’; they are also a way of presenting or imitating other species and the reincarnation of their spirits in ours, and lastly, they take a very precise physical forms, observed in the majority of the representations, in which figurines or illustrations are often depicted with their mouths open, looking up and with their eyes closed, evidencing a certain body disposition to communicate; to the other, to everything, to the cosmos.

In the case of the ceramic works, López focuses in a group of figurines popularly known as Gritones (Screamers), common to the region of Nariño, Colombia. With these figurines, López focuses on the possible desires of the objects beyond their given and agreed function, aspect that the artist has been questioning in previous works, based on the explanations that we assume as true provided by archaeologists, and on the idea that any object is or could be a bearer of a spirit, and therefore its an autonomous entity with desire, that transcends language and interpretations imposed a posteriori.

A clear example of this can be observed in Sólo quiero ser naturaleza muerta (I only wish to be a still life), in which we see a figurine whose desire is to forget the three functional hypothesis given to it by history, and just wishes to exist as a mere receptacle, or a still life, taking a more passive role within its own given narrative.

As a complement and a counterpart to the scream, López presents us with a series of works that address the ear, hearing and the act of listening, like in the case of Gruta, Colador and Máscara Rítmica, an object designed to deprive us from certain senses like taste, smell and sight, in order to focus on hearing and perception.

Lastly, the scream, the clamor and any other sounds derived from this intention to express, are perceived by the artist as a primitive form of music, understanding the latter as a natural science, an anthropomorphic science for which there are no objects in this world without a voice¹. The different objects in which these rhythms are manifested then are secondary, because the object changes its meaning depending on the rhythm than invades it. A basket for example, has the principal function of collecting and transporting things; fruits, rocks, tools, but if placed on the head, for example, it can protect us from the sun and rain. Therefore, objects, each of them, are never their ‘final reality’, but rather the final intention of the ‘rhythm’ that invades them, presented in this exhibition in the form of works made of vinyl, wood, glass, acrylic and paper, and the sculptures made of clay, saw dust and soil.

Ulrik López, ¡¡¡!!!, 2019, exhibition view, Galería Agustina Ferreyra, Mexico City

Ulrik López, (¡¡!!), 2019, photographic print on vinyl, acrylic on glass and marker on paper, 37.5 x 27.5 x 2.5 cm, (14.76 x 10.82 x 0.98 inches)

Ulrik López, Gritón, 2019, red clay ceramic and bone char on palm weave plinth, 4.5 x 7.5 x 6.5 cm, (1.77 x 2.95 x 2.55 inches)

Ulrik López, Máscara rítmica, 2019, Iraca palm weave, 122 x 117 x 10 cm, (48 x 46 x 3.93 inches)

Ulrik López, Sin título (Rayo y trueno), 2019, Graphite on paper, cotton thread and pine wood, 35 x 64.5 x 3.5 cm, (13.77 x 25.39 x 1.37 inches)

Ulrik López, Sin título (Natufian), 2019, Graphite on paper, cotton thread and pine wood, 35 x 64.5 x 3.5 cm, (13.77 x 25.39 x 1.37 inches)

Ulrik López, , (, 2019, photographic print on vinyl , graphite on paper and acrylic on glass, 103 x 81 x 3 cm, (40.55 x 31.88 x 1.18 inches)

Ulrik López, º (, 2019, photographic print on vinyl , graphite on paper and acrylic on glass, 103 x 81 x 3 cm, (40.55 x 31.88 x 1.18 inches)

Ulrik López, Sólo quiero ser naturaleza muerta, 2019, photographic print on vinyl , graphite on paper and, acrylic on glass, 55.5 x 43.5 x 3 cm, (21.85 x 17.12 x 1.18 inches)

Ulrik López, ¡¡¡!!!, 2019, red clay, 1.5 x 10. x10 cm, (3.75 x 4 x 4 inches)

Ulrik López, Colador, 2019, red clay, 5 x 4 x 1.5 cm, (2 x 1.5 x 1/2 inches)

Ulrik López, (Gruta), 2019, mud and saw dust, 24 x 30 x 29 cm, (9.5 x 11.08 x 11.5 inches)

Ulrik López, ################, 2019, photographic print on vinyl , graphite on paper and acrylic on glass, 43.5 x 29.5 x 3 cm, (17 x 11.5 x 1.2 inches)

Ulrik López, //()\\, 2019, graphite on paper and acrylic on glass, 35.5 x 46 x 3 cm, (14 x 18 x 1.2 inches)

Ulrik López, Máscara Rítmica 2, 2019, graphite on paper and acrylic on glass, 29.5 x 37.5 x 3 cm, (11.6 x 14 x 1.2 inches)

Ulrik López, Máscara Rítmica 3, 2019, marker on paper and acrylic on glass, 29.5 x 37.5 x 2.5 cm, (11.6 x 14 x 1.2 inches)