Liliana Porter: Recent Work
Overview

Hosfelt Gallery, New York

 

In one monumental 5×20 foot painting, one calamitous installation and a dozen incongruous photographic works, Liliana Porter’s exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery explores with dark humor the nature of catastrophe and other frightening events. Drawing from a large and eccentric collection of figurines, knickknacks, toys, and souvenirs to create an ensemble cast, Porter arranges her characters in unexpected circumstances. Kitsch objects are suddenly transformed into individuals with whom we instinctively empathize and identify, becoming actors that both elicit and exude emotion in mini dramas about life, death, love, longing, terror and loss. The peculiar situations Porter invents invite political, philosophical and existential interpretation. Through manipulation of scale and context, she distills life into its basic elements with masterful simplicity.

 

Liliana Porter was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1941. In 1961 she moved to New York, where she has lived and worked ever since. In 1965 she founded the New York Graphic Workshop with Luis Camnitzer and Jose Guillermo Castillo. Porter has shown extensively internationally, including most recently a two-person exhibition with Marcel Broodthaers at The New Museum, New York, a web project with Dia Art Foundation, and solo exhibitions at the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires; Palacio Aguirre de Cartagena, Spain; and the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona. Her work is in numerous public and private collections in Latin America, Europe and the United States, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Smithsonian Museum of American Art; Daros-Latinoamerica Collection, Zurich; and Tate Modern, London. Hosfelt Gallery will feature the work of Liliana Porter at the PINTA Latin American Art Fair November 10-13 at 7 West 34th Street (at 5th Ave) in New York.

Works
  • Digital duraflex photo of a pile of various toys and figurines. On top of the photo towards the left white acrylic paint has been poured and splattered. Towards the bottom several tiny objects are floating or partially submerged in the wave of white acrylic while at the upper right a small yellow rubber duck figurine appears to easily glide through the paint leaving a trail behind it. The entire piece is encased in a plexiglass box
    Liliana Porter
    Yellow Duck, 2011
    Mixed media
    20 1/2 x 30 1/2 x 4 in
    52.1 x 77.5 x 10.2 cm
    Inquire
  • Digital photograph of two dumming figurines. To the right a light brown teddy bear doll with pinstripe overalls and red shoes plays a red drum while to the left a very tiny humanoid figurine plays its own drums
    Liliana Porter
    Drummers, 2011
    photograph
    36 x 26 inches/91.4 x 66 cm
    Inquire
  • Digital duraflex photograph of a small porcelain milk porer with an intricate blue pattern painted on its face. To the far left of the milk pourer a tiny human figurine dressed in red stands facing it. A thin line connects the two
    Liliana Porter
    To Go Back, 2011
    Duraflex
    21 1/4 x 31 1/4 in
    54 x 79.4 cm
  • Digital photograph of a tiny Jesus Christ keychain clothed in white and red standing upright. A metallic key with a key ring trails behind him
    Liliana Porter
    Key Holder, 2011
    photograph
    16 x 21 in
    40.6 x 53.3 cm
    Inquire
  • Digital duraflex photograph of a small figurine of a young boy leaning against a shorter stone well or column. The figurine has been completely covered in pale pink paint and some of it pools at the base of it
    Liliana Porter
    Pink Boy, 2011
    Duraflex
    31 1/4 x 21 in
    79.4 x 53.3 cm
    Inquire
  • Digital photograph of an installation piece in which a pile of tangled black and beige ropes are rested on a white floor. Towards the lower left of the rope pile an incredibly tiny figurine holds out a small strand that connects back to larger rope pile
    Liliana Porter
    Forced Labor (rope), 2011
    Duraflex
    32 1/2 x 46 1/4 inches/82.5 x 117.5 cm
  • Digital photograph of an installation piece in which multiple broken and smashed objects are arranged in a curving line on a large white wooden platform. A very tiny human figurine wielding an axe above its head is placed at the front of the line and is assumed to be responsible for the damaged objects. The objects increase in size as the line curves and reaches the end of its platform
    Liliana Porter
    Man with Axe, 2011
    Wooden platform with objects
    45 x 144 x 152 inches
    114.3 x 365.8 x 386.1 cm
    Inquire
  • Duraflex print of a black and white digital photograph of a small chubby little girl figurine with a large bow in her hair and a dark dress. The figurine is situated at the lower right of the photograph which is framed. Next to the figure and mounted on the side frame is a tiny black and white penguin. The penguin and the doll appear to be side eyeing each other
    Liliana Porter
    Dialogue, 2011
    Duraflex
    26 x 33 x 3 in
    66 x 83.8 x 7.6 cm
  • Digital photograph of an installation in which a white wooden shelf is mounted onto a white wall. On the shelf a small white bust of Elvis Presley is located at the center. To the left of the bust a small white music box is visible
    Liliana Porter
    Untitled (Elvis), 2011
    wooden shelf with porcelain figurine and music box
    7 x 43 x 10 in
    17.8 x 109.2 x 25.4 cm
    Inquire
  • Digital duraflex photograph of an arrangement of three different figurines. The figurine in the middle is a painted bust of Elvis Presley the one on the right is a gray bust of Che Guevara and the one on the left is a figurine of a flattened piece of brie cheese. It should be noted that Joan of Arc is the name of a trademarked French brie
    Liliana Porter
    Joan of Arc, Elvis, Che, 2011
    Duraflex
    35 x 29 in
    88.9 x 73.7 cm
    Inquire
  • Duraflex print of a digital photograph which depicts a clustered group of variously sized figurines and found objects in front of a white background. The figurines are arranged so that the tallest ones are in the middle and the shorter ones are along the sides
    Liliana Porter
    The Intruder, 2011
    Duraflex
    28 x 41 inches
    edition of 5, with unique objects
    Inquire
  • Black paint covers the entirety of a small Mickey Mouse sculpture as well as large portions of the white circular canvas the figurine is mounted on
    Liliana Porter
    Mickey, 2011
    mixed media on canvas
    5 x 5 in
    12.7 x 12.7 cm
    Inquire
  • Thickly layered and textured white paint covers a circular canvas. At the upper center of the canvas the paint appears to be pushed back in an uneven oval shape to reveal a yellow green and blue watery surface. A tiny figurine stands on the edge between the white canvas and the multicolored watery surface
    Liliana Porter
    The Pond, 2011
    mixed media on canvas
    12 x 12 in
    30.5 x 30.5 cm
    Inquire
  • Digital duraflex photo of a standing fluffy cream colored figurine of a chick against a white background. Several dirty spots can be seen on the floor of background and are assumed to be made by the chick figurine
    Liliana Porter
    Wind, 2011
    Duraflex
    34 x 51 inches
    edition of 5
    Inquire
  • Four large rectangular white canvas panels of different dimensions are decorated with various sized figurines found objects along with drips and splotches of black red and white acrylic paint
    Liliana Porter
    Situations with Lost Objects, 2011
    Acrylic and assemblage on canvas (four panels)
    60 x 223 inches overall
    152.4 x 566.4 cm
    Inquire
Installation Views
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