This work lived temporarily in the house of architect Luis Barragán in Mexico City in the framework of the exhibition Barragán Fetichista that, broadly speaking, dealt with the role of objects in the work of the architect.
One of my premises was to pay attention to areas that had a peripheral or secondary value in the house, trying to avoid referring directly to Barragán and his architecture. That is how I ended up in the section of multifaceted cartoonist Miguel Covarrubias’s archive that is housed there. It was donated to Luis Barragán by Rosa Rolando, Covarrubias’ partner for many years (most of the archive can be found in the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla and another considerable portion belongs to Adriana Williams).
Taking the subject of the exhibition as a departing point, I selected in a somewhat Morellian way (as in 42 Partial Portraits and The Blacks), a chapter in Covarrubias’ archive devoted to sketches of hands and feet. From those images I produced a series of objects in fired-clay that ranged from faithful three-dimensional copies to some that presented functionality gestures such as vases and pots. Once these sketches were exhausted, I also pulled out details of books illustrated by Covarrubias in the house’s library.
The objects were placed in some areas of the house, as well as the yard and garden.
105 fired clay objects
different sizes
Produced by Estancia Femsa.
With the production assistance of Oscar Garduño, Susana Solís, Manuel Gonzalez and Taller de Cerámica Elemento.