FACTS, CONTRADICTIONS, PUZZLES, AN EXPLANATION AND A FEW LIES | OCTAVIO ABÚNDEZ AT KOHN GALLERY
By Larry Armstrong-Kizzee
Opening this Saturday, November 9th, 2019, Guadalajara-based artist Octavio Abúndez brings his conceptual works to Los Angeles for his first-ever solo exhibition. Courtesy of the Kohn Gallery, Abúndez’ show Facts, Contradictions, An Explanation, and a Few Lies will continue to explore the artist’s affinity for language, text, and the varying transmissions of Pop Culture across a remarkable 256 paintings. Discussing this show, its leading themes, and breaking down a few of the ideologies behind them, Octavio Abúndez dives into his practice with striking detail.
You have an upcoming solo exhibition at Kohn Gallery titled Facts, contradictions, puzzles, an explanation and a few lies. This sounds like such a specific, pointed title for an art show. How did the name come about? And how does it relate to this particular collection?
Thanks, it took me a while to come up with it. The title comes from describing the different works in the show as what they are but not what they are about. I wanted to hint at a complex system of relations rather than giving right away the core theme in the show. The works at Kohn Gallery are from four different series so the ambiguous title was also meant to bridge and connect their differences.
It seems like your work speaks volumes about your own world view. With so much imagery, references, and dialogue, it feels like there is a message to be taken away from the exhibition. Besides an appreciation for the work presented, what do you hope the viewer takes home with them after leaving Facts, contradictions, puzzles, an explanation and a few lies?
I hope people leave with a smile, a laugh even, and maybe some despair. I hope they find the lies. I hope they get the nature of my humor, but above all, I´d love that the show becomes an excuse to talk about utopias.
A sizable bulk of your collection features language and text intertwined with an image. What is it about language which inspires your work? Where do you find value in incorporating it into your art instead of maybe writing an essay or a novel?
I am an avid reader, always been. Literature in many of its forms has helped me expand my views on the world and visit hundreds of imaginary ones. Language in art fascinates me because it conveys meaning immediately. Although abstract in nature, language is an abstraction we share. Most of my work is about ideas that aren´t easy to represent pictorially or sculpturally, which is why, for the sake of brevity and clarity, I use language. And language, specifically English, a transit language, allows for the greatest number of possible readers/viewers.
I´ve written some essays, though not academic, much more poetical and personal. I am also working (with no rush whatsoever) in a novel set in the future. It is about humanity. If this novel titled “Thistopia” ever finds itself into Literature, I would add it to my portfolio alongside any other painting, drawing, etc. I like to think of myself as an artist who writes as other artists draw.
Your new series of works investigates “utopias, dystopias, and idealized or dysfunctional societies.” If you were told twenty years ago about what living in 2019 would be like, would you believe our society to be a utopia or a dystopia?
In 1999 I was just finishing high school and getting into Architecture. I wouldn´t have believed the reach (and the speed with which) of the internet stepped into almost all aspects of our daily lives via our little black mirrors. I wouldn´t have believed either how little effect the knowledge of being surveilled and spied upon had. I also wouldn´t have dared imagine the 9/11 attacks. I am not a good futurologist. Then again these themes I address make up only a very small portion of the present.
I believe that our (worldwide civilization) is a dystopia. I believe your society (The United States of America) is also a dystopia and I know that my country fights its own demons.
Right now both of our countries have become politically polarized. It´s not a good thing in itself but it allows for personal analysis on the way we see the world and how we think it should be. A thought process that lies in the core of utopias.
However, I am not pessimistic enough and though I believe we live in a dystopia, I believe there´s cause for hope. I think we have come a great way forward from 1516 when Thomas More wrote his novel. And that the future of Humanity is as blind a guess as our present would have been to Thomas More.
In your opinion what makes a perfect utopia? Could such a thing exist? What about Dystopia?
Utopia changes, it is an evolving puzzle to which History adds new layers and quests as we progress. Which we have. The meaning of Utopia also depends greatly on our world views, timeframe and birth circumstances. To adventure a response; a perfect utopia would need to procure the greatest amount of freedom to its citizens while it embraces change, allows and encourages dissent and keeps a balance with the real world.
I believe it can exist. Maybe not tomorrow (which is one of the most important reasons why we fail so much) but I think it is doable. Extrem ely hard but doable.
Dystopia is the real world. Whether in the form of Communist regimes, in Capitalism, cannibalism, religious intolerance, gender inequality, postcolonialism, oppression, poverty. It is our material struggle with the real to acquire resources and fulfill our desires. I against you. We versus Them. It is the selfish gene that got us through life´s evolutionary maze, as a species. And, of course, there is a gigantic selection of dystopias, some darker than others.
Your latest installation is loosely based on Gerhard Richter’s four 256 color charts. What about this piece inspired you? And how do you see your work as a continuation of what he was trying to accomplish?
What inspired and still inspires me about the large Color Charts is the sheer visual power they have.
Rather than a continuation, I see my whole painterly works as a critique/homage to certain vanguards of the past century. Color Field, Minimalism, some Pop Art. The large mosaic paintings that make up the Hi(stories) series are also based on On Kawara´s Date Paintings series.
I don´t consider myself a painter, ironically. What I perceive is that Art about Art reached a point zero in the past century with Malevich and then began building up again element by element. While I adore the guts, the sensorial experience of seeing them, the humor even of this minimal path I can´t remain silent. That´s why I reuse languages and styles which were devoid of meaning as backgrounds.
For “We Could be So Much Better,” you use pre-existing lines of dialogue from films in order to elevate your critique of futurity. Can you explain your use of film dialogue? What is it about the movies you incorporate which speak for your work?
This series began in other series which will also be at Kohn´s. They are grooved boards with… more texts. I was playing with text formats; to do lists, surviving the end of the world instructions, monologues, dialogues, jokes, etc. For one of them, I wrote down a scene in which three characters are talking about beginning a revolution. One of the characters speaks a line from the Star Wars franchise, ‘Only a Sith deals in absolutes,’ in order to mock another character. And so began the series with color stripes as background.
I wanted to construct conversations whose parts were already there. I wanted to highlight the role of the Cinema Industry, especially Hollywood´s, as the Present´s most powerful and loud Narrator. Also how the industry has become the main source for social experiments and possible futures. Thankfully and also, sadly.
I think that we are, globally, at a loss of fate/goal. Since the fall of the USSR the world has had no competing ideology but also it didn´t yield any future to get to. The conversations in this series aim for those possible futures, they speak about our responsibility, our decisions as minimal parts of History.
The core source for the movie lines come mainly from an extensive list of 198 films. A personal selection of Dystopias. My favorite genre. Naturally, there are a lot more dystopias in films than utopias. Drama is much more cinematic.