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Adrián Villar Rojas
The Evolution of God
High Line at the Rail Yards
September 21, 2014 – August 16, 2015
Argentine artist Adrián Villar Rojas is known for his large-scale, site-specific sculptural installations that transform their environs into a vision of their own potential future. Employing a unique mixture of cement and clay, Villar Rojas imbues his sculptures with a material destined to crumble while on view. His works combine the daunting scale of conventional public sculptures with a precarious fragility, keeping viewers mindful of the ephemerality of even the most imposing monoliths.
For the High Line, the artist presents The Evolution of God, a new, site-specific installation composed of thirteen abstract sculptures which punctuate the wild, self-seeded landscape of the High Line at the Rail Yards, and creates a sculptural progression and a rhythmic sequence of forms, reminiscent of a musical score. This new project extends the artist’s own traditional treatment of materials, by integrating organic elements such as seeds, vegetables, and other perishable components inspired by the natural landscape on the High Line as well as non-perishable items such as clothing, sneakers, and rope. Seemingly sturdy, the sculptures will instead turn into living organisms, revealing the passage of time through vegetal sprouts and tectonic cracks, which will slowly return the sculptures to the surrounding landscape.
Organized by Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator.
Photos by Timothy Schenck.
Artist bio
Adrián Villar Rojas (b. 1980, Argentina) lives and works in Rosario, Argentina. Recent solo exhibitions include Los Teatros de Saturno, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2014); Today we reboot the planet, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London (2013); The Work of the Ocean, Foundation 11 Lijnen, Belgium (2013); Before My Birth, Arts Brookfield with the New Museum of Contemporary Art, World Financial Center Plaza, New York (2012); and Poems for Earthlings, SAM ART Projects, the Louvre Museum, Paris (2011). His most recent international group exhibitions include the Shanghai Biennale, China (2012); EXPO 1, MoMA PS1, New York (2013); dOCUMENTA(13), Kassel, Germany (2012); The 2012 New Museum Triennial, The Ungovernables, New York (2012); and the Istanbul Biennial (2011). Villar Rojas has been the recipient of numerous awards including The Zurich Art Prize at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv (2013); the 9th Benesse Prize in the 54th Venice Biennial (2011); the Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe Scholarship for Young Artists (2006); and the first prize in the Bienal Nacional de Arte de Bahía Blanca at the Contemporary Art Museum of Bahía Blanca Argentina (2005).
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