artnexus #82

Several concerns are central to the work of Mateo López (Bogotá, 1978). First, a particular relationship with drawing and draftsmanship, which allows López to recreate faithful versions of objects as he plays with a unique way of approaching representation. The viewer is always surprised by objects that are represented with such precision, and begins to question where the notions of false and real should be located, how the relationship between things operates, and the paradoxical nature of concepts like representation and reality. López’s understanding of the spontaneity and immediacy of drawing makes it possible for him to connect the technique with everyday life, with the way in which things actually take place. There is also the idea of the journey, of transits that can be conceived physically but also become mental processes. Works like Adrift are travel journals in which found and reproduced objects, models, photographs, and drawings interact to produce a complex installation where it is possible to intuit the artist’s thoughts concerning the operations of his own creative process. Anecdotes and life experiences build a unique travelogue through which López is willing to reveal and share with the viewer instances of his personal experience. And let’s not forget the presence in López’s work of the practice of the archive, an odd exercise that—in the artist’s own words—allows us to connect one thing with another, but which he seems also to use as a memory practice that makes it possible for him to choose what to remember, and why.
IVONNE PINI