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20.06.2015
Casa Maauad, Ciudad de México, México
May 14, 2015 – June 26, 2015
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![IMG_8013[1]](https://terremoto.mx/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_80131-700x467.jpg)
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Casa Maauad is proud to present CRAFT THOUGHTS | WOOD SONGS, an exhibition by french artist, Theo Mercier. Known for his large-scale textural works, Mercier creates systems of delicately composed groups of sculptures that have family-inclined hierarchies. He beautifully assembles peculiar things such as coyote teeth, spagetti, plastic fruit, mousetraps, handmade pottery, and dildos in order to create poetic sculptures that often inhabit the space between reality and the surreal.
In CRAFT THOUGHTS | WOOD SONGS Mercier examines gender, family, and imagined indigenous cultures through primitive and organic shapes. The artist experiments with simple forms that hint at human figures while still retaining their otherworldly quality. His works echo on exoticism and other cultural characteristics that can, at the same time, relate to the bondage between daily life and a certain sense of fantasy.
The community of sculptures shown throughout the show relate to the most pure and simple form of symbols: shapes and hints that suggest greater meanings. His practice involves the exploration of the most minimal extent that can be reached to represent the human figure. To add on, the sculptures that have resulted from his artistic process evoke a fantastic aspect that makes it impossible to point out where and when the sculptures are from within a geographical or historical context. They recreate proper craft from an imaginary tribe or country and make allusions that the spectator can’t clearly point out. In that sense the ambiguity appeals to a modernist body of work that Mercier has
entitled Imaginary Anthropology.
The environment or context in which the artist finds himself is the key departing point of his work. In this sense, Mercier is constantly collecting objects that belong to the environment where he finds himself as primary sources of inspiration for his pieces. The authenticity of these objects an their relationship to the place an culture where they are created are of particular interest the artist.
Mercier has departed from his home country, France, to settle down for an extended period of time in Mexico. His induction to the country has led him to learn the spanish language and explore local traditions such as the craftsmanship of wood and pottery. A large part of the production of CRAFT THOUGHTS | WOOD SONGS is a result of a long collaboration between various craftsmen in Oaxaca and Mercier. These processes have also influenced the result of what is his latest body of work and will further allow Mercier to develop new stages of his artistic process.
http://www.casamaauad.com/
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