The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

The collage works form part of the ongoing series, 'The waste of my time', in which Mateo López repurposes unused materials in his studio. The latest works in this series were made in the artist’s New York studio just before lockdown, using cardboard, acrylic paint and grommet. López draws inspiration from an anecdote on Josef Albers at Bauhaus Preliminary Class in 1923, which encapsulates his playful and paired down approach.

As told by López, “Albers entered the classroom with a bundle of newspaper under his arm. ‘Ladies and gentleman’, he said, ‘we are poor and not rich. We cannot afford to waste materials or time. Every piece of work has a starting material, and therefore we must examine the nature of this material. I would like you to take these newspapers in hand and make something more out of them than what they are at present. If you can do so without any accessories, such as cutters, scissors or glue, all the better.”

Vaina refers to the Spanish word for a vegetable pod. In Colombian slang it is also used to refer to things without a proper name; a thing or an issue. It further refers to a vanilla pod and I believe this is where this origin of the word comes from, i.e. vainilla (vanilla) in Spanish.

The work is the result of collaboration with a Rattan and Yare weaver in San Felipe, my local neighborhood in Bogotá. During lockdown, I visited his shop and was amazed with the craft and the potential of the material. We then started doing prototypes. It also became a process of learning weaving techniques and creating round shapes, as my work is usually flat and the way I draw usually incorporates Cartesian principles. With these sculptural works, I am thinking about architecture and considering other concepts such as transparency, weight, temporality and mobility. The functionality of this piece is very simple: you can get inside the cylinder, close it, just breath, hum, whistle and lastly isolate - which is the new norm.

- Mateo López, 2020.

For quite a few years I have been thinking about my role as an artist, the use and purpose of an artwork, as well as its activation and functionality.

Over time, I began using less rationality and more affection, emotion and hospitality as part of my approach to making art. That’s why I usually include a gesture of hospitality in my exhibitions, such as a piece of furniture to sit or lay down on. The idea being to spend time and remind yourself that you are not there just to watch, you are an active part of it.

These two chairs, titled Sillas Núcleo will be replacing the chairs the gallery usually has in the space to host visitors. They are very simple chairs comprising six interlocked pieces. If you were to explode out all the individual pieces into their individual parts floating in the space, the chromatic Turmeric yellow might remind you of Hélio Oiticica’s Grande Nucleo. This work is a homage, and a reference to Oiticica and that generation of artists experimenting with the idea of a radical approach to art.

- Mateo López, 2020.

This work follows the same principle of the other Travel Sculpture works, which can easily be assembled and disassembled. The height of this work is 1,75cm, which is my height.

I cut each section according to the sections of my body. The fun part is that you can rearrange the sections in different ways: My nose under my knee, my neck on my belly, and my leg on top of my head…or just spread the pieces around the room.

I decided to include this work as some kind of a scale, a “physical” presence. Due to the circumstances I cannot be at the exhibition, so it will be a “Solo presentation" of works.

- Mateo López, 2020.

Arbol Portátil (portable tree) is a modular, travelling sculpture which can be compacted and packed into a custom made suitcase. The visual language intentionally references design of toys such as Meccano and encourages a sense of play. The concept of travelling sculptures and in particular this travelling tree, which can be "rooted" in a new destination, speaks to López's experience as an immigrant living between Bogotá and New York.

This work is the continuation of another series, titled "Estructuras Modulares" (Modular Structures). These are works that can be arranged in different ways using the same pattern. The piece usually comes with install instructions and variations on the work.

"Bosque Paralelo" consists of a 60 x 60cm square painted on the wall with Achiote Paint and a wood frame that you can hang in different ways, while playing with balance and the horizontal lines.

The title of this work references pure exercises of abstraction, reminiscent of the early works of Piet Mondrian. With this new work I used a natural pigment as background, coming from the Achiote Tree found in forests.

— Mateo López, 202

“During lockdown I had a lot of spare time to take care of my plants and I started planting seeds of fruits and vegetables. Now I have pots full of crops. Avocados, potato, carrots, garlic, corn. My favourite is the corn plant, which grows fast in a spiral shape and extends long leaves that fold with its weight. I started doing drawings to understand the shape and trying to find a pattern, a geometric abstraction. The result is this wall piece made out of metal and cotton fabric; the extensions rotate on the same axis and you can move them.

The work is a tribute to the corn plant introduced by Antonio Caro, a Colombian conceptual artist. Around 1980 he described that this plant identifies our region from north to south. The work is a continuation of his idea and also the legacy, craft and geometry left by the pre-Hispanic culture.”

- Mateo López, 2020.

This is a work from 2012 that I like to revisit. On one side there is the lithograph, font or paper pattern, and on the other side, the paper poem series, which includes titles, words, and quotes that I like to include sometimes accompanying exhibitions.

On this occasion -Make Do and Mend- the title of the exhibition is a work in and of itself.

Shot at Galeria Travesia Cuatro, Madrid

Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/454096172/3dece6d016

password: López

Mateo Lopez

2020

Dimensions variable

Unique