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Héctor Zamora
As Circunstâncias -
A nude torso, tense muscles, exposed genitals, a grave visage and focused gaze have been recurring characteristics of the iconic representation of the male human figure in Western classical culture. David, a sculpture by Michelangelo in the Renaissance period, is a perfect example. But its relevance is not only formal. The biblical hero is also the symbol of a civilizational project based on rationalism and virility, one which has guided – and oppressed – us until today.In Platônicos, Héctor Zamora invites us to reflect on this model, by commissioning a professional stonemason to transform a stone sculpture of a male figure into a set of Platonic solids. The proposal to decompose the human figure into elementary polyhedrons is a poetic gesture of a “return to the origins.” The idea, however, is destined to fail. Once sculpted, the stone becomes molecularly unstable, complicating any further attempts to resculpt it with the precision needed for the Platonic forms. Thus, with the misshapen chunks of stone that are left over from the stonemason’s work, Zamora challenges us to consider the gap between theory and practice that we often observe in our daily lives. This gap is more than just the topic of many commonplace jokes; it also has deep philosophical roots in the inherently androcentric Greco-Roman culture, which is the central focus of this work.In a pendulum-like gesture, as the starting point for Movimentos emissores da existência [Existence-emitting Movements] Zamora adopts the classical image of a woman with a ceramic pot of water balanced atop her head. To carry on her head a load that weighs nearly as much as her own body, the woman needs not only strength and skill but also finesse. After all, quick movements do not combine with balance. The Western mindset unfortunately ended up associating this image with that of a useful and proud, but docile woman. A good example of this are the lessons in etiquette from not too long ago when girls were encouraged to carry objects on their heads, as a way of practicing an erect and modest posture. As a well-known phrase in Portuguese goes, concerning the stereotypically ideal woman: beautiful, reserved, and at home.By inviting women to step on unset, still malleable play pots scattered on the floor, Zamora aims to intervene, both literally and metaphorically, on this stereotype of submission to which the woman has been relegated throughout the course of Western history. It is not, however, a gesture of destruction. When pressed under the women’s feet, with a combination of force, precision and finesse – the same skills required for the pots to remain balanced on top their heads – the utilitarian objects are transformed into beautiful and thought-provoking sculptural elements. It is impossible not to perceive this process of transmutation as a metaphor for day-to-day female life.In our present time, amidst the evident failure of the civilizational project, Héctor Zamora offers tools for reflecting on various manners of coping with the challenges we face in the current Anthropocene era. Is it wise for us to continue – through the use of force and various forms of violence – to maintain a civilizational project that is increasingly seen to be exhausted? Or could it be that with finesse, sensitivity and precision, we can and should unite to transform our way of existing?Helena Cavalheiro
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02.08 - 23.08.23
Luciana Brito Galeria
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H É C T O R Z A M O R A"Movimentos Emissores da Existência", 2019
vídeo digital 4K, 1 canal | 4K digital video, single channel
duração: 5'25'' | duration: 5'25''ed 3/3 + 1 P.A.
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Héctor Zamora
"Platônicos", 2017
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H É C T O R Z A M O R A"3"da série "Potencialidades A", 2022blocos de cerâmica | ceramic blocks
154 x 450 x 10 cm | 60.63 x 177.16 x 3.94 ined 1/2 + 1 P.A.View more details -
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Héctor Zamora
1974, Mexico City, Mexico. Lives and works in Mexico City, MexicoHéctor Zamora is better known for his research, which involves public spaces and the built environment. In his works, the artist reinvents and redefines conventional spaces – exhibition spaces or others – giving rise to noise between the meanings of public and private, exterior and interior, real and imaginary. If, on the one hand, Héctor Zamora’s work deals with the aesthetic and formal legacy of concretism and other Latin American vanguard movements, on the other, it problematizes social and political questions related to work in a consumer society and to the subversion of architectures, of the city, and of history.Héctor holds a degree in graphic design and structural geometry. He has held solo shows at prominent institutions which include The Roof Garden Commission, MET NY, USA (2020); LABOR, Mexico City (2019); Pavilhão Branco (Portugal, 2018); the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (Mexico, 2017); Fundación RAC (Spain, 2017); the Palais de Tokyo (Spain, 2016); CCBB São Paulo (2016), the Center for Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, USA, 2013) and Itaú Cultural (São Paulo, 2010). He has participated in group shows at venues that include the 4th Mediterranean Biennial, Israel (2021); Hirshhorn Museum, USA (2020); the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Spain (2018); the 12th Shanghai Biennale, China (2018); MAM-RJ (2014); Guggenheim Museum (USA, 2013); the Museo de Arte de Lima (Peru, 2012); the 54th Venice Biennale (Italy, 2011); the 11th and 14th editions of the Biennale de Lyon (2011 and 2017); the 12th International Cairo Biennale (Egypt, 2010); the 9th and 12th editions of the Bienal de la Habana (2006 and 2015); and the 27th Bienal de São Paulo (2006). Zamora has moreover been awarded prizes from the Graham Foundation Arquitetura + Arte (2011), the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture (2009), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2007), the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (2006), the Jumex Collection Foundation (2006), and others. His works figure in collections of important institutions such as Amparo Museum (Mexico), Fundación RAC (Spain), and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (USA).
