Artist Profile | Modern Art

Jose Dávila

Jose Dávila (born 1974 in Guadalajara, Mexico)[citation needed is a Mexican multidisciplinary artist. Mainly a sculptor, Dávila also works with two-dimensional media such as painting, drawing and prints. His work encompasses different topics and concepts such as the tradition of modernism in the arts, notions of balance and equilibrium manifested through sculptural creation and the politics of representation and recognition within visual cultures. Dávila currently lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico. Jose Dávila studied architecture in the 1990s at the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Guadalajara, Mexico.[citation needed] In different interviews the artist has valued this initial education however he prefers to consider himself a self-taught artist, involving an intuitive research of art history and different influential artists such as Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein and Jannis Kounnellis During his early career Dávila investigated the conceptual usage of images within the art context, manipulating them in different ways. During these years he started his series of "cut-out" works which runs until recent years. The series consists of different groups of images in which the main subject is removed by cutting it out, leaving only the surroundings.Dávila approached topics such as architecture, art history, popular culture and the work of specific artists like Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Dan Flavin and Richard Prince. By presenting incomplete versions of highly familiar images Dávila invites the public to question the inherent dynamics of visual recognition and how this plays a vital role in the establishment of visually-oriented cultures. Dávila has replicated the iconic "Stack" sculptures by American minimalist artist Donald Judd using simple repurposed materials such as cardboard and recycled shipping containers. These works are in between appropriation, homage and re-contextualization, but more than wanting to reflect on originality and authenticity, Dávila seeks to question the nature of the sculptural object. In an interview Dávila mentions how Judd's stacks function by occupying space and establishing "spatial relationships", and that this could be re-enacted with cheaper and local materials In recent years Dávila has developed more projects related to sculpture. He creates complex structural systems in which stones, construction materials and found objects remain in perilous balance, often balancing the weight of the elements in order to create a stable composition through the use of ratchet straps or wires. His larger on-site installations often involve site-specific materials. As a research topic he has also focused on the material and cultural histories of stone and its relationship with the human world. In 2017 LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) commissioned Jose Dávila the creation of a sculptural project that would interact in close proximity with the city of Los Angeles and its inhabitants. The result was a large-scale modular sculpture that moved through different landmark sites and neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The sculpture consisted of a 2.5 meter high cube made with 40 individual pieces made with concrete. The work was initially presented in its complete form at West Hollywood Park and then the different modules were disseminated across the city. The nature of the work was relational and interactive with the public, the previously blank surface of the concrete pieces ended up covered with graffiti and other interventions. After three months the pieces were brought together and the assembled cube was presented with all its modifications for one last time at West Hollywood Park.