Vol 1: Cowboys, Yeni Mao
La instalación es, en esencia, una escultura figurativa, un cyborg. Mao usa la capacidad emocional que cada material contiene; construyendo así un conjunto que resuena a la historia del cuerpo, y como consecuencia, una historia política y social. Mao aprovecha la intimidad que generan las más simples propiedades de sus materiales: tacto, textura, peso, etc., una intimidad que las imágenes no pueden generar por sí mismas. Los objetos actúan como fetiches con reminiscencias a fragmentos antropológicos, evocando un eco, un espectro de una caracterización inventada o extendida.
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guadalajara90210 presents Vol. 1: Cowboys, an exhibition of new work by Yeni Mao. The show will remain on view until Oct 7th, 2018.
The exhibition starts with the invitation image as a thesis. It is a semi- fictionalization, a disguise. This image is not of the artist. We are in an age of self- declaration. Vol. 1: Cowboys is the aggravation of mythologies.
Vol.1: Cowboys consists of three tile plinths, whose plan reflects that of the architecture of the apartment gallery. They are open-ended, emphasizing the section of each structure, and hold a selection of objects and interventions in vignette-style museography. The exploded positioning of the plinths and the intervening structures suggest a larger capacity, an installation that has no end. The subject does not have full representation. Yeni Mao proposes that the entry point into histories is through absence, an absence delineated by clues and fragments.
The installation is in essence a figurative sculpture, a cyborg. Mao uses the emotional capacity materials carry; building materials that resonate a history of the body, and in turn, a social and political history. Mao’s objects acquire the intimacy of touch, texture, weight, etc., an intimacy that images do not give. The objects act as fetishes, reminiscent of anthropological fragments, evoking an echo or ghost of an extended or invented characterization.