Artist: Ernesto Burgos
Exhibition title: One Thing After Another
Venue: Kate Werble, New York, US
Date: March 24 – May 6, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kate Werble, New York
The seven new works by Chilean artist Ernesto Burgos in his exhibition, One Thing After Another, open a dialogue between scale and expectation. The large expansive pieces – made of cardboard, fiberglass and aqua resin, embellished with paint and charcoal – sit on table-like pedestals. At first, they look too immense for their bases, probably too heavy for the supports. Then, they begin to almost float off their plinths, ready to alight into the space around them.
This body of work builds upon two previous solo exhibitions by Burgos at this gallery. Those shows raised issues about the difficulty of distinguishing among different sculptural production and techniques when much about the end products at first looks very similar: materials, surroundings, and paint application. This new show demonstrates Burgos’ ability to create forms that challenge first impressions and untether the sculptures and expectations.
If Burgos’ prior work spoke to anxieties surrounding the prospect of creative production in a contemporary moment where the original always seems to bear close resemblance to everything else, this new body of work might be evidence that the bottom has finally fallen out. Indeed, these works suggest that in a climate of instability, the healthiest thing may be in the fluidity of the provisional.
Ernesto Burgos (Chile, b. 1979 in Santa Clara, CA) received his BFA from California College of the Arts in 2004 and his MFA from New York University in 2008. Burgos has held solo exhibitions at Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY (2014, 2012); MIER gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2016); The Goma, Madrid, Spain (2015, 2012); Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY (2013); and David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL (2007). His work has been exhibited at venues including the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY; Ideobox, Miami, FL; Apex Art, New York, NY; Casino Metropolitano, Mexico City, Mexico; Locust Projects, Miami, FL; and The Paper Mill Gallery, Sydney, Australia. He currently lives and works in New York, NY.
Ernesto Burgos, Alfil, 2017, Cardboard, fiberglass, charcoal, paint, spray paint, Work: 47 x 37 x 24 inches, Base: 30 3/4 x 24 x 30 inches
Ernesto Burgos, Predilection of Symmetry, 2017, Cardboard, fiberglass, resin, paint, charcoal, wood, foam, 58 x 51 x 23 inches
Ernesto Burgos, Both Directions, 2017, Cardboard, fiberglass, charcoal, Work: 45 x 54 x 34 inches, Base: 30 3/4 x 50 x 40 inches
Ernesto Burgos, Elision, 2017, Cardboard, fiberglass, wood, paint, spray paint, charcoal, Work: 72 x 48 x 4 inches, Base: 21 3/4 x 28 x 31 inches
Ernesto Burgos, Hiraeth, 2017, Cardboard, fiberglass, paint, spray paint, charcoal, Work: 49 x 30 x 34 inches, Base: 25 x 30 x 30 inches
Ernesto Burgos, Sonámbulo, 2017, Cardboard, fiberglass, charcoal, paint, spray paint, wood, glue, Work: 58 x 32 x 31 inches, Base: 30 3/4 x 30 x 24 inches
Ernesto Burgos, Mancha, 2017, Cardboard, fiberglass, charcoal, spray paint, oil paint, Work: 46 x 42 x 22 inches, Base: 30 3/4 x 30 x 24 inches
