Totems and Trophies

PROXYCO is proud to present Totems & Trophies, a collaboration with LIBERIA gallery from Bogotá, Colombia.
The exhibition, curated by Maria Camila Montalvo, examines the value and meaning that society ascribes to objects, from the emotional charge of a trophy and the historical value of a monument to the way we can personalize mass-produced items.
In the past, objects such as rocks, cave paintings, and masks have been believed to be inhabited by spirits or deities. In modern art, however, artists began to use figures freely without relation to the mystical. Marcel Duchamp, for instance, would choose an ordinary object to place on a pedestal and exhibit it. According to Jung, this approach represented a movement away from man’s fundamental instincts and led to a feeling of dissasociation and division between “nature and mind, the conscious and subconscious.”
Inspired by scientific breakthroughs that revealed the great mysteries of matter, artists eventually began a new search for the "life" within objects. Once again, art became interested in mysticism as a means of approaching the world. This exhibition presents a collection of mystical objects, of modern totems and trophies.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS Jorge Julián Aristizábal (Medellín, Colombia, 1962) Miguel Cárdenas (Bogotá, Colombia, 1973) Benvenuto Chavajay (b. San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala, 1978)
Iván Hurtado (b. Medellín, Colombia, 1970) Luz Lizarazo (Bogotá, Colombia, 1966) Juan Sebastián Peláez (Medellín, Colombia, 1982) José Sanín Canney (Bogotá, Colombia, 1991)
About PROXYCO PROXYCO is a New York-based gallery specializing in emerging and mid-career Latin American artists. Additionally, the gallery seeks to foster an understanding of the role of art from Latin American in international art movements (past and present). For PROXYCO, the term “Latin American” is not an essentializing classifier but rather a fluid framework to value and engage with art that is informed by both a distinct cultural heritage and an ever- widening global perspective. It was founded in 2017 by Alexandra Morris (b. Mexico City) and Laura Sáenz (b. Bogotá).
About LIBERIA LIBERIA is an interdisciplinary project that seeks to promote a dialogue between different artistic practices. The exhibitions, which are the main axis of its programming, are accompanied by talks, workshops, seminars, and educational projects, in order to attract new audiences and promote art in Colombia. Located in the San Felipe neighborhood (Bogotá Art District), LIBERIA includes two exhibition rooms and Adorno, a seasonal store dedicated to the exhibition and sale of objects that fall between the worlds of art and design.
Summer hours Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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