Somewhere Behind the Eyes

With the temporary exhibition Somewhere Behind the Eyes the Philara Collection shows the Mexican artist Jose Dávila, who navigates at the borders of natural principles.
Statics, balance and gravity are visually levered against Newtons universal laws of gravitation. Thereby he utilizes antagonistic materials. Industrially manufactured glass sheets are combined with natural volcano stones. Furthermore, Dávila (*1974, Guadalajara) analyses paradigms of 20th Century art history by modifying well-known icons of modernism and altering its level of recognition.

In the exhibition Somewhere Behind The Eyes Dávila links tinted glass with mirrors and colorful lashing straps, which stabilise themselves by virtue of their own weight. The starting point is the balance between contrary forces, which are triggered by varied strength of the chosen materials. By readjusting contrary positions Dávila lets his work oscillate between fragility and stability, relief and tension, as well as linearity and chaos.

The mobilé Homage to the Square refers to Joseph Albers series with the same title. Alber’s two-dimensional square has been sculptural translated into a spacial environment. While swinging freely, it has its own dynamic and will be ascertainable from different perspectives. Dávila breaks up familiar visual structures and shows alternative ways of perception. He enables a sight somewhere behind the eyes.

The Guadalajara based artist studied architecture at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Guadalajara and he studies Sculpture at the Fine Arts Academy San Miguel de Allende in Mexico.