Liliana Porter: Recent Work
Nov 9, 2011 - Jan 21, 2012
Overview

Hosfelt Gallery, New York

 

In one monumental 5×20 foot painting, one calamitous installation and a dozen incongruous photographic works, Liliana Porter’s exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery explores with dark humor the nature of catastrophe and other frightening events. Drawing from a large and eccentric collection of figurines, knickknacks, toys, and souvenirs to create an ensemble cast, Porter arranges her characters in unexpected circumstances. Kitsch objects are suddenly transformed into individuals with whom we instinctively empathize and identify, becoming actors that both elicit and exude emotion in mini dramas about life, death, love, longing, terror and loss. The peculiar situations Porter invents invite political, philosophical and existential interpretation. Through manipulation of scale and context, she distills life into its basic elements with masterful simplicity.

 

Liliana Porter was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1941. In 1961 she moved to New York, where she has lived and worked ever since. In 1965 she founded the New York Graphic Workshop with Luis Camnitzer and Jose Guillermo Castillo. Porter has shown extensively internationally, including most recently a two-person exhibition with Marcel Broodthaers at The New Museum, New York, a web project with Dia Art Foundation, and solo exhibitions at the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires; Palacio Aguirre de Cartagena, Spain; and the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona. Her work is in numerous public and private collections in Latin America, Europe and the United States, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Smithsonian Museum of American Art; Daros-Latinoamerica Collection, Zurich; and Tate Modern, London. Hosfelt Gallery will feature the work of Liliana Porter at the PINTA Latin American Art Fair November 10-13 at 7 West 34th Street (at 5th Ave) in New York.

Works
  • Liliana Porter, Yellow Duck, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Yellow Duck, 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, Drummers, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Drummers, 2011
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  • Digital duraflex photograph of a small porcelain milk porer with an intricate blue pattern painted on its face. To the far left of the milk pourer a tiny human figurine dressed in red stands facing it. A thin line connects the two
    Liliana Porter
    To Go Back, 2011
    Duraflex
    21 1/4 x 31 1/4 in
    54 x 79.4 cm
  • Liliana Porter, Key Holder, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Key Holder, 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, Pink Boy, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Pink Boy, 2011
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  • Digital photograph of an installation piece in which a pile of tangled black and beige ropes are rested on a white floor. Towards the lower left of the rope pile an incredibly tiny figurine holds out a small strand that connects back to larger rope pile
    Liliana Porter
    Forced Labor (rope), 2011
    Duraflex
    32 1/2 x 46 1/4 inches/82.5 x 117.5 cm
  • Digital photograph of an installation piece in which multiple broken and smashed objects are arranged in a curving line on a large white wooden platform. A very tiny human figurine wielding an axe above its head is placed at the front of the line and is assumed to be responsible for the damaged objects. The objects increase in size as the line curves and reaches the end of its platform
    Liliana Porter
    Man with Axe, 2011
    Wooden platform with objects
    45 x 144 x 152 inches
    114.3 x 365.8 x 386.1 cm
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  • Duraflex print of a black and white digital photograph of a small chubby little girl figurine with a large bow in her hair and a dark dress. The figurine is situated at the lower right of the photograph which is framed. Next to the figure and mounted on the side frame is a tiny black and white penguin. The penguin and the doll appear to be side eyeing each other
    Liliana Porter
    Dialogue, 2011
    Duraflex
    26 x 33 x 3 in
    66 x 83.8 x 7.6 cm
  • Liliana Porter, Untitled (Elvis), 2011
    Liliana Porter, Untitled (Elvis), 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, Joan of Arc, Elvis, Che, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Joan of Arc, Elvis, Che, 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, The Intruder, 2011
    Liliana Porter, The Intruder, 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, Mickey, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Mickey, 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, The Pond, 2011
    Liliana Porter, The Pond, 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, Wind, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Wind, 2011
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  • Liliana Porter, Situations with Lost Objects, 2011
    Liliana Porter, Situations with Lost Objects, 2011
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Installation Views
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