July 7 – August 4, 2012
Steve Turner Contemporary is pleased to present Fragmental, Pablo Rasgado’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. It consists of 144 fragments of a wall that the artist found in Brooklyn in 2009. The wall had MECA, a word of unknown meaning, graffitied onto its surface. Rasgado then extracted the painted surface of the wall using strappo, a technique developed during the Renaissance to move a fresco from one location to another, and transported it to his studio in Mexico City where he subsequently divided it into 144 pieces.
Rasgado’s interest lies in the tension between realism and abstraction. He starts with a painting that is precisely what it purports to be–a painted wall rather than a representation of a painted wall–an ultimate realist painting. By fragmenting it, he turns it into an abstraction–the abstraction of an actual wall. He simultaneously presents the original wall and the abstraction of that wall, confounding the difference between them. During the four-week run of the exhibition, the 145 pieces will be rearranged in four different ways. The four arrangements have been planned by the artist and will be unveiled on the 7th, 14th , 21st and the 28th of July. A photograph documenting the original wall will be on view at the first opening, and at each subsequent opening, additional photographs will be added that show the later modifications of the original painting.
Born in 1984 in Jalisco, Mexico, Rasgado studied Visual Arts at the Autonomous University of Morelos State. Select solo exhibitions include Fantmes, La Chambre Blanche, Quebec (2011), Arquitectura Desdoblada, Museo Experimental el Eco, Mexico City (2011) and Wall to Wall, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles (2011). His work has also been exhibited at Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City (2012), Colecci�n Jumex, Mexico (2011), Hessel Museum of Art & Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, NY (2010), MUCA Roma, Mexico City (2009) and National Museum of Prints, Mexico City (2006). He has received three grants from the Mexican National Fund for Culture and Arts and has taken part in several residency programs. He lives and works in Mexico City.
Steve Turner Contemporary is a contemporary art gallery based in Los Angeles that represents the work of emerging and established contemporary artists. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11- 6. Please contact the gallery for further information.
Contact: Steve Turner, steve@steveturner.la, 323.931.3721
Pablo Rasgado reconfigures material from everyday life into new abstractions. Much of his past work has been made from painted public walls, some extracted from busy city streets, others from temporary museum exhibitions. Sometimes the walls have political or social content. Sometimes they simply contain an image that the artist wants to capture and present in a new way. Whatever the source, Rasgado seeks to represent a frozen moment. In the case of the Unfolded Architecture paintings, they represent specific moments within a museum’s history and indeed in art history.
Pablo Rasgado (born Zapopan, Mexico, 1984) studied at the Autonomous University, Morelos, Mexico and has had solo exhibitions at Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles (2011 & 2012) and Arratia Beer, Berlin (2012). He also has had solo exhibitions at Zona Maco (with Steve Turner, 2012) and at Art Basel Miami Beach (with Arratia Beer, 2012). His work has also been included in numerous museum group exhibitions including When Attitudes Became Form Becomes Attitudes, curated by Jens Hoffman, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2012) and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit (2013); Lost Line: Contemporary Art from the Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2012); Los Irrespetuosos, Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico City (2012); Donde el lenguaje es el material, Casa del Lago, Mexico City (2012) and Tiempo de Sospecha, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico (2012). He lives and works in Mexico City.
Born 1984, Zapopan, Mexico
Lives and works in Mexico City
Education
2010
Proyecciones y Superficies Workshop, National Center for the Arts, Mexico City
Ejercicio de Correspondencia Workshop, SOMA, Mexico City
2007
Diploma Course in Museology, Centro Cultural Casa Lamm, Mexico City
2003
Diploma Course in Photography, Centro Morelense de las Artes, Mexico
2006
BFA, Autonomous University of the State of Morelos, Mexico
Solo Exhibitions
2012
Monochromatic Muralism, Arratia Beer, Berlin
Fragmental, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
Victoria Pírrica, ATEA, Mexico City
2011
Arquitectura Desdoblada, The Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City
Wall to Wall, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
2008
Eternity in an empty room, Arcaute Arte Contemporáneo, Monterrey, Mexico
2005
Baba, Casa Emergente Visual Lab and Gallery, Cuernavaca, Mor. Mexico
2004
Sobre la certeza, Alberca artes Gallery, Mexico
Art Fair Solo Exhibitions
2012
Pablo Rasgado, Art Basel Miami Beach, Arratia Beer, Berlin
Paint Study, Zona Maco Sur, Steve Turner Contemporary, Mexico City, curated by Patrick Charpenel
2011
Pablo Rasgado, Art Berlin Contemporary, Arratia Beer, Berlin
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013
When Attitudes Became Form Becomes Attitudes, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit
Lost Line: Contemporary Art from the Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Proyecto Basurto, Steve Turner Contemporary, Mexico City
2012
Los Irrespetuosos, Group Show, Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
When Attitudes Became Form Becomes Attitudes, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco
Donde el lenguaje es el material, Group Show, Casa del Lago, Mexico City
Tiempo de Sospecha, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico
Prorroga Recuperada, Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City
Bienal Tamayo, MACO, Oaxaca, Mexico
2011
Transitio_ MX 04 – Festival of Electronic Arts and Video, Mexico City
Destello, Colección Jumex, Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico (curated by Osvaldo Sanchez)
Cartography, ICOCULT, Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico
Interconnects, Contemporary Art in the FEMSA Collection, Pinacoteca Diego Rivera, Veracruz, Xalapa
2010
This is about…Plataforma arte Contemporaneo, Guadalajara, Mexico (curated by Ruben Mendez)
Cimbra: Formas especulativas y armados metafísicos, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City
Open Day, Stonehouse, Alakuko, Lagos, Nigeria
IX Bienal Monterrey FEMSA, Galería de Arte Moderno y Contemporáne Ángeles, Espinosa Iglesias, Casa de la Cultura de Puebla and San Pedro, Museo de Arte, Puebla, Mexico
Second Comino, Hessel Museum of Art & Center for Curatorial Studies Galleries at Bard College, (curated by Carlos Palacios, Andre Torreblanca, Gabi Ngocobo)
IX Bienal Monterrey FEMSA, Cecut, Tijuana
2009
IX Bienal Monterrey FEMSA, Centro de las Artes, Parque Fundidora Monterrey, Mexico
Open Art México, Open: International performance art festival, Collaboration with Kelly Kleinschrodt, Beijing
Diorama: la reinvención del paisaje, MUCA Roma Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte, Mexico City (curated by Gonzalo Ortega)
Staybite: Modes of Operation, The University of Texas at Dallas, Visual Arts Building, Dallas (curated by Karla Diaz and Evelyn Serrano)
Needle in a Haystack, Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, Los Angeles (curated by Nate Garcia)
2008
Exchange Rate, Sea and Space Explorations, Los Angeles
Exchange Rate, Remy’s on Temple, Los Angeles
Preservación de forma y equilibrio #2, Collaboration with Luis Ordoñez, Orizaba 203-2, Mexico
2007
Principio de incertidumbre, Forum universal de las culturas, Centro de las Artes I y II, Parque
fundidora Monterrey, Mexico (curated by Fernando Delmar)
Montañas Fototeca de Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico (curated by Patricia Martín)
2006
Ejemplares: Libro Objeto, Museo Nacional de la Estampa, Mexico (curated by Albert Dilger)
Sueño de una Noche de Verano, Collaboration with Luis Ordoñez, Centro Cultural
Muros, Cuernavaca, Mexico (curated by Andrea Torreblanca and Paulina Cornejo)
2005
Preservación de forma y equilibrio, Collaboration with Luis Ordoñez, Casa Emergente, Cuernavaca, Mexico
2004
Lo que no explica la vida lo explica el fuego, Collaboration with Luis Ordoñeze, 21 Gallery, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Residencies and Awards
2012
Bancomer MACG Program 2012 Fellow
Triangle Art Trust Artist’s Workshop, New York
2011
Artist-in-residence, La Chambre Blanche, Québec
International Residency Program at the École Superier d’ Art et Design, Saint Ettienne, France
2010
CCA Lagos – Triangle artist Workshop Nigeria, Center for Contemporary Art Lagos, Stonehouse Alakuko, Lagos, Nigeria
Young Creators Grant, Painting, National Fund for Culture and Arts, Mexico
2009
Honorific Mention at the IX Monterrey Femsa Biennale
1st place, Printed mediums, at the international Journalism Award Can Cun
International Residency Program at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska
2007
Mexican American Fellowship, Mexican American Foundation
Residency Program at the Vermont Studio Center, Jonson, Vermont
2006
Young Creators Grant, New Mediums, National Fund for Culture and Arts, Mexico
Selected Publications
2012
“Arquitectura Desdoblada/Unfolded Architecture,” Beau Dessordre Press, First Edition, Mexico
“La Repercusion de la Linea en el Espacio,” Taller de Ediciones Economicas, First Edition, Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico 2012
“Nieve,” Malpais ediciones, First Edition, Mexico 2012
2010
“Desde las entrañas de Teotihuacan,” México Desconocido Magazine #404, year XXXIV, October 2010
2009
“Preservación de Forma y Equilibrio,” Oráculo, Revista de Poesía #29-30, año 9, October 2009
“Six years on paper,” Bard Free Press, volume 10, issue 5, March 2009 (Curated by Andrea Torreblanca)
2004
“De Ciudad Juárez a Parral, ahí vienen los villistas,” México Desconocido Magazine, #334, year XXIX, December 2004
“De Ciudad Juárez a Parral, Para escuchar el silencio,” México Desconocido Magazine, #333, year XXIX, December 2004
2000
“Montalbán y los Zapotecas,” Pasajes de la historia Magazine, special edition, October 2000
Bibliography
2011
Josianne Desloges, “Fantomes, de Pablo Rasgado, Quand les murs Parlent,” Le Soleil Arts Magazine, December 17, 2011
Paulina Ascencio, ¨Pablo Rasgado, Tiempo y Negacion.” Taxi around the art, No. 04, September-November 2011
Carlos Palacios, “La pintura en las Ruinas, obra de Pablo Rasgado.” Tierra Adentro Magazine, No. 170, June/July 2011
Bartolomé Delmar, “De lo bueno, una probadita,” Chilango, año 8/ numero 90, May 2011
Gonzalo Ortega, “Arte Joven desde Latinoamerica, Pablo Rasgado,” Codigo 06140, No. 62, April-May 2011
Tobias Ostrander, “Pablo Rasgado,” Tomo, No. 32, April 2011
2010
Ricardo Sánchez Riancho, “Entrevista con Pablo Rasgado,” Textofilia, revista de literatura y arte, No. 19
Obidike Okafor, “The Triangle of arts,” Next Newspaper, October 31
2009
Silas Martí, “Ruínas urbanas dão o tom de bienal Mexicana,” Folha de S. Paulo, November 23, 2009
Verónica Gerber, “Metamorfosis del Paisaje,” Letras Libres Blog de la redacción, July 13, 2009
Elana Mann, “Exchange Rate: 2008,” Exhibition Catalogue, Lulu press, 2009
2008
Fernando Delmar, “Principio de Incertidumbre,” Exhibition Catalogue, Forum, 2008
2007
Erick Vásquez, “trail and Error,” ArtNexus, Vol. 68, December 2007
Daniel Saldaña Paris, “Ejemplares: Libro-objeto,” Letras Libres, Año IX No. 99, March 2007
Anarela Vargas, “El Libro Imaginario,” Milenio Newspaper, January 30, 2007
Mónica Meyer, “Ejemplares.” El Universal Newspaper, January 12, 2007
Jorge Ocheterena Bergstrom, “Descripciones Habitables.” Mileni Newspaper, January 9, 2007
2006
Francisco Hinojosa, “Sobre Pablo Rasgado.” Tierra Adentro No. 141, August 2006
