Jose Dávila

Why this artist matters now

Drawing on his training as an architect, Jose Dávila reflects on the failure of utopian, modernist architectural principles in his assemblages, mixed-media works, photography, and installations. “There is something poetic in failure and in our limitations,” he says, “because we live with a modernism that is not preserved, where we see buildings that have abandoned or demolished and others have been badly remodeled.” Dávila is primarily known for his assemblages—spatial investigations and hybrids of painted wood, found objects, and plastics that resemble maquettes or quasi-functional structures. He is influenced by Donald Judd, Jannis Kounnellis, and Sol LeWitt.

Source: Sean Kelly · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago