Artwork
Joint Effort
Artist
Jose Dávila
(Mexican, born 1974)
DepartmentContemporary Art
Date2014
Dimensionsheight: 72 1/4 in. (183.5 cm)
width: 49 1/4 in. (125.1 cm)
depth: 51 5/16 in. (130.3 cm)
width: 49 1/4 in. (125.1 cm)
depth: 51 5/16 in. (130.3 cm)
Credit LineSan Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with The Brown Foundation Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund
Object number2019.1
Copyright© Jose Dávila
DescriptionTwo large rectangular mirrored panels that rest on their bottom edge and create a V-shape. There is a light-colored boulder on the floor in between the panels and all three elements are held in place with a bright blue ratchet strap.Label TextDrawing upon his training in architecture and art history, especially twentieth-century artists such as Brancusi (Romanian, 1876–1957) who removed their sculptural work from a pedestal and positioned it in the viewer’s space, Jose Dávila creates a minimal installation of poetic power. Complex contradictions coexist between form and function; fragility and resistance; calm and tension; and geometry and chaos. Dávila’s installation offers, in essence, a parallel to the viewer’s own search for a harmonious whole out of uncertainties and contradictions.
(Suzanne Weaver, 2020)
Aprovechando su formación en arquitectura e historia del arte, especialmente en artistas del siglo XX como Brancusi (Rumania, 1876–1957), que retiraron su obra escultórica de un pedestal y la colocaron en el espacio del espectador, José Dávila ha creado una instalación minimalista con poder poético. En ella coexisten complejas contradicciones entre la forma y la función; la fragilidad y la resistencia; la calma y la tensión, y la geometría y el caos. La instalación de Dávila ofrece, en su esencia, un paralelo a la búsqueda del propio espectador de una totalidad armoniosa a partir de incertidumbres y contradicciones.
(Suzanne Weaver, 2020)
In Joint Effort, two large mirrors are held together in a V-shape through the tension of industrial ratchet straps. Its simple construction and materials belie a complexity of contradictions between form and function; cold and warm; light and heavy; and emptiness and fullness. Dávila trained as an architect in Guadalajara and conducts on-going studies of art history, especially the history of sculpture—from Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s (Italian, 1598–1680) idea of pushing materials to a breaking point to the use of industrial materials by Minimalist Donald Judd (American, 1928–1994). Here, Dávila investigates perceptual illusions and the physics of display in terms of gravity, scale, and volume, producing poetic power through interactions between materials, viewers, and the surrounding environment.
(Suzanne Weaver 2019)Not on view
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The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
