Custot Gallery Dubai is hosting Lines in Motion, French-Argentinian artist, designer, and researcher Pablo Reinoso’s first solo show in the region. The exhibition presents a comprehensive survey of his sculptural practice. On view are the artist’s existing works (including iconic Spaghetti Benches, Garabatos, and Frames) and those he has produced lately. The show will be open to the public until the 27th of January, 2024.
The Spaghetti Bench series of site-specific installations started in 2006 comprises anonymously designed public benches with vine-like branches growing out of them, which have travelled across cultures and ended up in various places. Like his Thonet series (it is based on the iconic chair created by German-Austrian cabinet maker Michael Thonet in 1859), the Spaghetti Bench collection also explores the seat as an object.
The Garabatos (which means “scribbles”) series of seats reflects the artist’s desire to subvert reality: he uses materials or objects in unconventional ways. The rigid steel takes unprecedented shapes and dimensions challenging constraints and playing with the boundaries of impossibility.
In the Frames series of artworks, frames start living a different life after they have accomplished their mission as objects. Working on each piece, Reinoso determines whether the function is kept or not. Sometimes the object is not usable anymore. Other times, its incorporation into the art piece preserves its function entirely or partially.
Cuadrito 12 A: 35 x 21 x 6.5 cm
Cuadrito 12 B: 34.7 x 20 x 6 cm
About the artist
Pablo Reinoso (b. 1955, Buenos Aires, Argentina) resides in Paris (France). In the 1970s, the artist enrolled to study architecture at Universidad de Buenos Aires but had to flee to Paris (France) in 1978. Later that year, he was granted a scholarship to study marble sculpting in Carrara (Tuscany, Italy).
The practice of Reinoso, who draws his inspiration from his multicultural upbringing in both Argentina and France, deploys sculpture, installation, design, architecture, and painting. Using a full range of materials (wood, bronze, stone, steel, textile, etc.), he questions their nature and pushes their limits. Exploring the relationship between function and art, in his work, Reinoso focuses on materiality and the idea of object. The notion of space is also one of the key elements in his art pieces. “A work always alters the space,” he says. “It can provide the environment in which it is inscribed a new meaning, a new function, and a new angle of vision.” Often created in situ, the artist’s sculptures question our perception and ways of being in space.
Reinoso has showcased his creations in a plethora of solo and group exhibitions including Pablo Reinoso moves to Sciences Po (Paris, France, 2023); Uprooted (Xippas Punta del Este, Uruguay, 2022); Solo Show, ArteBa (Xippas Galeries, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2018); Biennale Sur (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2017); The world meets here (Custot Gallery, Dubai, 2016); From earth and metal: contemporary sculptures (Art Plural Gallery, Singapore, 2015); Against the Grain (Museum of Art, Nova Southeastern University, FL, USA, 2013); Art Köln (Levy Galerie, Köln, Germany, 2012); Beyond Limits (Chatsworth, England, UK, 2011); and many others. The artist’s works have graced such public collections as the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires (Argentina), National Contemporary Art Fund (Paris), Bahia Museum of Modern Art (Salvador da Bahia, Brazil), and MUSAC (Castilla y Leon, Spain), to name a few.
To learn more about Lines in Motion, please visit the show’s official web page.
You might also be interested in attending Introspection by Mehdi Moutashar.
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