JOSE DÁVILA
JOINT EFFORT
ROCKEFELLER PLAZA, NEW YORK CITY, USAPRIL – JUNE 2019
The Joint Effort sculptures by the Mexican artist Jose Dávila have been often described as “totems” since their vertical compositions are reminiscent of the ascending gestures of these ancient ceremonial objects. Totems were early efforts to materialize a tangible link between Earth and Heaven; they also offered more simple functions such as public records available for consultation, materializing memory, and generational succession. Just as these totems accumulate symbolic contents vertically, Dávila positions industrial elements such as ratchet straps and concrete volumes, along with raw organic materials like unaltered boulders in such a way that they achieve a functional articulation. As a constructive hybrid, the sculpture merges stones, which are characterized as being one of the most basic and primitive construction elements, together with concrete volumes, a highly malleable modern material that can adopt any kind of geometric shape. For Dávila this contrast condenses the essence of construction and its constant transformation throughout history.
Commissioned by Sean Kelly Gallery and Frieze New York.
JOINT EFFORT, 2019Concrete, volcanic rock, and ratchet strap
425.5 x 85 x 85 cm
© Courtesy of the artist, Frieze New York, and Sean Kelly, New York
© Images Timothy Schenck