MASA gallery's artistic nomadism finds home in an 18th century Mexican villa

‘Non-Zero-Sum’ by Brian Thoreen

Transcending conventional materiality, Thoreen’s solo exhibition explores unconventional ways of fabrication and corporeality. Presenting his experience in innovative manipulation of material, Non-Zero-Sum exhibits over ten functional and six non-functional works. The art and design displays explore a bold exploration of shape, form, and utility at various scales and functions.

Large sculpture-like pieces, such as a two-meter candle made from 200 kilos of raw cast beeswax and a table made of twirling free-form rubber with cast bronze boxes and hammered copper elements that fill the curious aspect of combining two contrasting materials, create an interesting dialogue between function and form. Among the works is a chair that surprises visitors with its sinuous tactility and construction entirely of folded and stacked heavy neoprene.

In his presentation of collectable designs, there are a series of artworks that, through materiality and conceptuality, merge the digital and the analogue. A triptych of large works on paper that depict a binary code landscape by inscribing small charcoal sticks into the paper is among the series' notable works.

“The breath of Thoreen’s current studio practice offers a continuation and expansion of his longstanding interest in making the static and kinetic laws of the universe visible, and the collision of a physical material with personal experimentation wrestling with the forces of gravity, displacement, velocity, mass, and scale,” shares MASA.

‘The Space Under My Chair & The Music I Was Listening To’ by Mario García Torres.

Torres’s exhibition unveils two series—A Cast of the Space Under My Chair and The Work I Painted This Monochrome While Repeatedly Listening to Gasolina by Daddy Yankee. His works are an investigation of different realms that make art possible, especially influenced by the knowledge gaps in recent art history. To present these understandings in his artworks, Torres employs gestures related to the immaterial legacy of conceptual art.

A Cast of the Space Under My Chair was conceptualised from Bruce Nauman’s iconic concrete work, which gave form to negative space and bears the same name. Talking about Torres’s piece the gallery mentions, “In the coated aluminium version, García Torres casts his desk chair, symbolically overturning the sculpture’s purpose by turning it into a functional object. For Nauman, casting the space below his seating was a way to reveal overlooked spaces; 50 years later, García Torres shines a light into a centuries-old tradition.”

The Work I Painted This Monochrome While Repeatedly Listening to Gasolina by Daddy Yankee is a series of electrically plugged monochrome paintings. As the name suggests, the works were painted by Torres while listening to the song Gasolina, the influence of which can be seen in the artworks. The series is elevated to act as a piece of silent sound equipment by attaching a rhythmic led light to the surface of the canvas. “Interested in uncertainty and counter-narratives, he has blurred the notions of fact and fiction through a wide range of mediums, including film, slide shows, performance, sound and painting,” adds MASA, about the design philosophy of Torres.

With the two inaugural exhibitions, MASA extends its approach to art, driven by Mexico’s renaissance of modern thinking, to a permanent setting in the heart of the city. The historic building is said to have hosted over 300 of Fogarty’s 'Fiestas del Tercer Imperio' (Parties of the Third Empire). The evenings, orchestrated by famous muralist José Clemente Orozco were attended by artists, writers, and critics, all of whom contributed to the construction and aesthetics of modern Mexico. “MASA is a space for the creation of experimental conceptual culture. Through its exploration of new ideas and contemporary concepts, MASA will continue to distil the values of cultural production and with its digital, physical, and conceptual presence challenge conventions and present ideas on a global stage,” states the gallery.

The inaugural exhibitions ‘Non-Zero-Sum’ and 'The Space Under My Chair & The Music I Was Listening To' are on view at MASA Gallery from February 8, 2023 – April 8, 2023.