Curated by the young and promising Esteban King Álvarez, “La nueva onda del silencio” (“The new wave of silence”), recently on view in Mexico City at Cuarto de Máquinas (June 3—July 15), brought together the work of five artists from Monterrey: Yolanda Ceballos, Francisco Larios, Tahanny Lee, Leo Marz, and Marco Treviño. The exhibition explored moving-image, visual sound, and image construction in the contemporary world through varied media and approaches.
In still imagery, artists are able to represent movement and involve in some way the cadence and waves of sound. Their works interact in surprising and visually pleasant ways. The result is a group show of conversations and collaborations that tackle the historical attempt to visually represent sound.
Leo Marz, Las batallas del display, 2017. Acrylic on canvas,variable dimensions. Photo by Sergio López. Courtesy of El cuarto de máquinas.
Highlights include Marz’s series of computer screenshots pasted directly on the wall, providing a colorful geometrical skeleton that frame the artworks and the space. Treviño’s 16 pinturas traducidas al español (2017) is particularly striking in its subtlety, as the artist creates seemingly silent pieces that are actually quite loud in meaning through the emotional and financial value of the gold they are held up by, and the hidden poems written behind them.
