Uncharted Territory: Jose Dávila

For the second time the Hamburger Kunsthalle features in the exhibition format Uncharted Territory a different international artist whose work engages with global processes of change and issues of identity and place. For the eponymous project space Uncharted Territory new works are produced alternately every year. Jose Dávila (b. 1974 in Guadalajara) from Mexico has now been invited by the Hamburger Kunsthalle to conceive new works specifically for this space: Seven fragile yet imposing space-filling installations that play with the tensions inherent in physical forces, balance, and mass. At the same time, the artworks interact in an intriguing way with the architecture of the Gallery of Contemporary Art, designned by the architect Oswald Mathias Ungers. In A cube symbolically has no middle point (2017) Dávila combines tinted glass with mirrors and colourful straps in his sculpture that is only stable as a coherent whole. In Legacy is seldom stable (2017), contrasting materials and forms are combined, including sandstone blocks and boulders. Some of his signature images of sensitive and elegant harmony are generated, which always resonate with a sense of vulnerability.

Dávila’s installations and photographic works betray the influence of the sculpture and photography courses he took while studying to be an architect at the Institute of Fine Arts in San Miguel de Allende. As a playful reflection and critical commentary on the avant-garde art and architecture of the 20th century, his work is also obviously a tribute to its achievements. Dávila draws on American minimalism and its European precursors, including landmark figures such as Richard Serra, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Josef Albers, and the architects Luis Barragán and Mathias Goeritz.

Jose Dávila is one of the first winners of the new, internationally oriented Baltic Artists’ Award (2017), whose jury is made up of artists such as the distinguished Portuguese sculptor Pedro Cabrita Reis. Dávila’s works have been shown most recently in solo exhibitions at the Jumex Museum in Mexico City, at the US-american Marfa Contemporary and at the Havana Biennial in Cuba, as well as in group shows at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, at Centre Pompidou in Paris and at Mudam Luxembourg.

Prior to Jose Dávila, Haegue Yang (b. 1971) kicked off the new exhibition format Uncharted Territory with a presentation titled Quasi-Pagan Serial.  This installation in 2016/2017 was made possible by the Stiftung für die Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, which is now also sponsoring the show by Dávila. The Foundation acquires selected objects by the artists participating in Uncharted Territory for long-term loan to the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

With the kind support of Stiftung für die Hamburger Kunstsammlungen