SPOTLIGHT Max de Esteban

We are delighted to be working with Spanish artist, Max de Esteban, and to present his first solo exhibition in New York with Proposition One: Only The Ephemeral. This is his most recent body of work, that contributes to an overall artistic practice that explores socio-political concepts within visual structures of serialization and repetition.

PO9 from the Proposition One series. ©2011 Max de Esteban

"In constructing this photo-installation my concerns are: the consequences of today's accelerated embracement of new technologies and formats in the art practice; the political implications of technical and functional obsolescence; and the conflicts involved in the concept of progress".— Max de Esteban

PO8 from the Proposition One series. ©2011 Max de Esteban

Through a time-consuming and meticulous process, Max de Esteban disassembles apparatus such as film projectors, 35mm film cameras, VHS tape and record players. Piece-by-piece, the parts are painted white, the machines are then reassembled and photographed at different stages of being re-built. The photographed layers are themselves assembled into a single image, resulting in x-ray-like photographs that are reminiscent of architectural cyanotype plans.

 PO16 from the Proposition One series. ©2011 Max de Esteban

The resulting photographs are exquisite pigment prints that provide us with a rare glimpse into the internal workings of retro technology—at once beautiful for their simplicity and yet ingenuously complex in their design. They bring to mind the idea of a technological taxidermy; not at all nostalgic but certainly a form of embalming that calls references the photograph as memento mori.

Exhibition Dates: October 26th—December 9th.