Two metal chairs, fiberglass sphere, chalkboard paint, two plastic glasses and a stretched nylon string. 112 x 100 x 65 cm

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“By way of inverting stylistic strategies of modernity, this piece uses resources of avant-gardism to elaborate a proposal situated in these antipodes of formal modern purification. The principle element is a large sphere polished to a dark green. At first glance its perfection, elementary shape and homogeneous color, refer as much to the sculpture of Brancusi as to the monochromes of Reinhardt. Therefore, if we consider the first impression, Conversation Piece finds itself situated in the rigorousness characteristic of modernity. What we find is a piece bent on the search for non-understanding and the destruction of meaning.

At the same time, various elements are present which draw into question its modernistic character. In the first place, the sphere is placed upon two metal chairs which are facing one another, serving the function of a plinth. What is more, two holes are found diametrically opposed to each other in the surface of the sphere into which two plastic glasses have been inserted. These are connected by a string, which remains invisible to the spectator as it passes through the middle of the sphere, in the manner of the toy telephones which children often make for play.

Far from modern purification, Conversation Piece presents a hybrid character: we do not know if what we find in front of us is a sculpture, a painting or an everyday object. A modern work subverted where desire for silence becomes ironically inverted to produce a toy telephone which allows the spectator to communicate.”

Extracts from a text by Eduardo Pérez Soler for the catalog Crisi d’Identitats.