Diego BerruecosEl uso político del fenómeno solarMarchMar 21st - MayMay 4th, 2013Gaga Mexico City
Gaga is pleased to present Diego Berruecos’ second solo show at the gallery. To a certain point, this show is an extension of a study that started on 2006 on the contemporary history of Mexico and the artist’s wish of making some sense out of it or to try to generate some sort of method to capture and apprehend it while knowing the impossibility of the task.
In this case and in contrast to his first show at Gaga where the image was locally recognizable, Diego now presents two nearly abstract pieces of work: format-less headlines and bindings without text.
The political use of the solar phenomenon is the one flowers follow in the sky of history. Journalistic headlines here are open to many interpretations as some form of revival of subjective descriptions of the past, not to write history but to understand its cycles. On the piece that takes the same title as the show, as a mural installed along the side wall of the gallery, we come across a word-universe that presents a timeless vision of journalism as poetic history: Actions turn words into lies. The horn of prosperity. PLANS TO END PLANS. INSATIABLE GREED. SEA, SKY, SAND. Private property. Again the inexplicable. THE RITE OF IMMOBILITY. A DOCUMENT OF BRIBE. The rich stole the stars from us. Less births but eating worse. HUNGER IN THE PROSPERITY BANQUET. The government at the mercy of Santa Claus. FUTURIST SKIRMISH. Executives vote for continuity. MORE AMBITIOUS THAN PERISUR. PeriNorte is born. STORY OF AN EPHEMERAL GRANDIOSITY. How should our language be named? THE IMPOSSIBLE WAS PROMISED. Shame on the past, distress in the present, uncertainty of the future. The return of electoral immorality. A hospital for super- millionaires. A thousand tons of radioactive steel rods lost in the country. Government accepts to only listen to itself. From oil to the maize-field. Hugo Sanchez’s red Mercedes. We lack service. The posh and the rednecks: we only care about parties. “My characters are burps of society.” UTILITY LEGISLATORS. Prize for failure. MANUEL MANZO. A memoir of an AA soccer player. I haven’t taken off my guayabera. “NO ONE KNOWS”. The equivocal game of electoral polls. NEW MANSION AND YACHT. I want to show I’m not shady. FRIDAY’S CATASTROPHES. WE EXCHANGE PRINCIPLES FOR DOLLARS. SELECTIVE DEMOCRACY. HONEYMOON IN MEXICALI. DISPUTE FOR HISTORY. Words before injustice. MARIA FELIX: our presidents have turned us to dust. THE POLITICAL USE OF THE SOLAR PHENOMENON.
The second part of the exhibition consists of a series of ten silkscreens titled No borders separating thought’s words, one day he told me… at last, I don’t know, #437, #458, #484 #486, #490, #508, #510, #514, #459, #475. These series are in dialogue with the mural on the side wall in an inverted abstract operation where information is erased leaving its meaning intact as a fragmented puzzle. In the show these works are beginnings where figures over figures are transformed into contemporary images.
Diego Berruecos wants to thank the following people for their support for this exhibition: Lourdes Martínez, Juan Berruecos, Anne Marie Medellín, Adriana Lerma, Maru Aguzzi, Rigoberto de la Rocha, Rodrigo Marmolejo, Adriana Lara, and Nariño Tierno. Special thanks to Julio Scherer, Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa, Vicente Leñero, as well as the entire founding team of the weekly publication Proceso.