Frieze New York 2016

Otto Berchem has done obsessive studies of codes, and ways of classification. Being a foreigner in Colombia he decided to put together two of his principal interests, the tradition of conceptual painting, and the botanical expedition done in Colombia by priest and scientist Jose Celestino Mutis in the 18th and 19th century. Berchem does a new inventory of plants painting their silhouettes and intervening them with appropriations of one of the most important conceptual painters of all times, Daniel Buren whose signature stripes have given a new perspective as they go beyond painting to be appreciated as space itself.

Through her work Pia Camil has shown a proclivity to failure or the decaying associated to the mexican urban landscape, aspects of modernist culture and traces of art history. Her practice has explored the urban ruin – including paintings and photographs of halted projects along Mexico’s highways (highway follies); abandoned billboards that become theatre-like curtains therefore
theatricalizing failed capitalist strategies (espectaculares), or the problems and contradictions that arise when engaging with iconic art works (No A trio A or Cuadrado Negro).

Wilson Díaz’s practice includes music, painting, performance art, photography, and video. While the range of mediums and approaches is broad, Díaz’s oeuvre is unified by his enduring commitment to exploring the roots of conflict and corruption in Colombia, specifically by interrogating the ubiquitous representation of this violence in the mass media. In capturing intimate moments and tracing complex constellations of human and political influence, his art offers persuasive alternatives to conventional perceptions shaped by ideology and propaganda.