Jose Dávila's Grava Suelta premieres at OMR, Mexico City

Jose Dávila, a Mexican artist who has exhibited internationally, will present his fourth solo exhibition, "Grava Suelta," at OMR, Mexico City next week through December 22nd, 2022. The Mexican artist proposes a graphic presentation focusing on the pictorial possibilities of the circle and its historical presence. Davila demonstrates this through a dialogue between a recent series of paintings and new works from his long-running photographic cutouts inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's pictorial language.

Jose Dávila reveals the inner dynamics that shape the pictorial gesture in this visual dialogue by leaving brushstrokes and blocks of color in an unpolished state and assembling a composition using various patterns and vinyl paint on raw linen. Dávila's new paintings are centered on themes throughout his work: a visual articulation of gravity through precarious balance and a desire to draw attention to historical references that have special significance for the artist.

By incorporating the concept of circularity, Dávila has created a new vocabulary to address themes of balance, poetic intuition, and poignant moments in art history in "Grava Suelta." Whereas cutouts create an ambiguous composition, isolated brushstrokes successfully reference their origin, and this visual identification becomes almost automatic due to the public's familiarity with Lichtenstein's work.

These cutouts demonstrate an interest in the ambiguity of viewing as consumption at a time when the proliferation of images constantly challenges our sense of place or time as viewers to construct history. The Mexican artist has become a sensation for his photographic cutouts of the world's most architecturally significant buildings in the last eight years. Davila, an architect by training, examines works by artists and architects to determine their significance in the modern world.