Artist: Débora Delmar
Exhibition title: Consumer Influence
Venue: Páramo, Guadalajara, Mexico
Date: September 2 – November 11, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Páramo, Guadalajara
(Guadalajara, Mexico, August 25, 2017)— Páramo is pleased to announce the presentation of Consumer Influence, the first solo exhibition by Débora Delmar (b. 1986, Mexico City) at the gallery, which will be on view from September 2 through November 11, 2017. Delmar explores global consumer culture in the 21st century and its ever-expanding impact on our daily lives, and she adopts corporate aesthetics and marketing strategies as a means to recontextualize them. She frequently works across mediums to create installations and immersive environments inspired by shop displays and advertisements. Along with a series of new sculptural and photographic works, Delmar has created a signature scent for this exhibition in collaboration with a perfumer. This series of works examines the ways in which smell affects our experiences as the sense most closely connected to memory and emotion, and how brands market and utilize scents as part of their retail strategies.
The exhibition contains a series of human-scale sculptures, whose curved forms refer to the product design of perfume bottles and mannequins as well as the abstraction found in modernist sculpture. In particular, these works allude to Kenzo’s iconic Amour perfume bottle, whose design was inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s Bird in Space (1923–40). The varying proportions of Delmar’s sculptures also refer to a series of Dove body wash containers launched in diverse bottle shapes in order to represent the beauty of “real women.” These sculptures portray the subtle conflation of mass-produced objects of the beauty industry with fine art.
Delmar’s series of photographic works depict hands posed entreatingly in almost classical poses. Based on the visual allure of advertisements, these images are seemingly offering luxury products that do not exist, or that simply have not yet been edited into the frame. To create these pieces, Delmar hired a commercial photographer and a hand model; the use of industry professionals gives these images an authentic corporate aesthetic. The large-scale prints, hung on metal scaffold-like structures, resemble billboards found in stores and banners used in public spaces. These works also highlight the seeming contradiction between what perfume is and how it is marketed: due to the fact that it is an olfactory product, perfume has to be sold to us through suggestive imagery that may convey a feeling or a lifestyle that the brand wishes to represent. The materiality and presentation of Delmar’s photographic works reiterate their interrelationship to the tropes of commercialism and marketing.
Delmar will further collapse the distinctions between various consumer markets and their related promotional tactics with a separate installation containing a commissioned signature scent. It was created through working with what is known in the industry as a “nose” from Robertet and ARS Aromática Studio. This scent will emanate from a series of scent diffusers commonly employed in stores and other commercial spaces; these devices are usually hidden from customers. A space at the gallery will be bathed in a pink light, creating a dreamlike environment where, instead of being disguised with an ulterior motive, Delmar’s scent will become the main focus through this visual presentation.
A second part of this exhibition will be presented during Gallery Weekend México in Mexico City from September 22–24. Shown in a model unit in a new high-rise, luxury apartment building in the Juarez neighborhood, the works will be recontextualized in a site that is usually reserved for real estate transactions. The apartment’s interior will create a commercial-like setting referencing the idealized locations commonly used in perfume and other luxury product advertisements. In addition, a mobile billboard truck displaying enlarged versions of Delmar’s photographs of a hand model will be stationed outside of the apartment building to mark the opening of this project on September 22nd.
Débora Delmar (b. 1986, Mexico City) currently lives and works in London. Her work explores consumer culture, capitalist lifestyles, and aspirational aesthetics. She is particularly interested in topics such as class and the increasing effects of globalization in our everyday lives as well as cultural hegemony and the gendered and racialized imagery used in advertising. Delmar frequently creates elaborate multi-sensory installations that include sculpture, video, photography, scent, and sound, as well as online interventions.
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Product Placement (Fucsia Boots), 2017, Pink boots
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Morphing Design (Gold), 2017, Fiberglass, Height: 65.35 ” 166 cm., Carpet circumference: 62.99 “, 160 cm
Débora Delmar, Morphing Design (Silver), 2017, Fiberglass, Height:, 73.62 ” 187 cm., Carpet circumference: 62.99 ” 160 cm.
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Morphing Design (Gunmetal), 2017, Fiberglass, Height: 59.84 ” 152 cm., Carpet circumference: 62.99 ” 160 cm.
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, Hired Hands (Moschino, Couture!) banner, 2017, Digital print on Mesh screen, metal rod, Image Dimensions: 48.03 x 62.99 ” 122 x 160 cm., Dimensions: 55.91 x 65.35 x 4.72 ” 142 x 166 x 12 cm.
Débora Delmar, Hired Hands (Dior, Addict to life) banner, 2017, Digital print on Mesh screen, metal rod, Image Dimensions: 27.56 x 39.37 ” 70 x 100 cm., Dimensions: 35.43 x 41.73 x 7.87 ” 90 x 106 x 20 cm.
Débora Delmar, Hired Hands (Chanel, No.5) banner, 2017, Digital print on Mesh screen, metal rod, Image Dimensions: 48.03 x 62.99 ” 122 x 160 cm., Dimensions: 55.91 x 64.57 x 13.78 ” 142 x 164 x 35 cm.
Débora Delmar, Hired Hands (Nina Ricci, L’Air du temps) banner, 2017, Digital print on Mesh screen, metal rod, Image Dimensions: 27.56 x 39.37 ” 70 x 100 cm., Dimensions: 35.43 x 42.13 x 5.12 ” 90 x 107 x 13 cm.
Débora Delmar, Consumer Influence, 2017, exhibition view, Páramo, Guadalajara
Débora Delmar, A signature scent by DD (Showroom), 2017, Base, smudge diffusers, magenta lights and vinyls, Dimensions: Variable, Base: 47.24 x 43.31 x 10.83 ” 120 x 110 x 27.5 cm.
Débora Delmar, A signature scent by DD (Showroom), 2017, Base, smudge diffusers, magenta lights and vinyls, Dimensions: Variable, Base: 47.24 x 43.31 x 10.83 ” 120 x 110 x 27.5 cm.
Débora Delmar, Hired Hands (Lacoste, Eau) banner, 2017, Digital print on Mesh screen, metal rod, Image Dimensions: 27.56 x 39.37 ” 70 x 100 cm., Dimensions: 35.63 x 41.73 x 13.78 ” 90.5 x 106 x 35 cm.