OVERNIGHT DELIVERY (OND) BY CARLOS PEZ

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A solo exhibition presented by Building Bridges Art Exchange in partnership with Yam Gallery

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Curated by Adolfo Caballero

Opening Reception - Saturday, November 11, 5 - 8:30pm

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Overnight Delivery is a proposal for nocturnal paintings ready for delivery the following day. It responds to the phenomenon of supplies being delivered to your doorstep by companies like Amazon or Uber Eats. This response serves as a pretext to discuss the culture of immediacy, the increase in commercial volume, and the express distribution required to satisfy the voracious appetite of consumer society. Painting also finds its place in this phenomenon, where the artist address Abstraction and Action Painting as models of rapid production and automated gestures.

 

"Overnight" signifies during the night, and the night is the artist working hours. "Over" means above, and the idea of working above the night or someone's dream to produce a number of pieces ready for direct delivery the next day, right to buyers' doorsteps, translates into something like the idyllic dream of an independent artist.

 

As an artist Pez enjoy integrating irony and humor into the content and techniques he use in his projects. Currently, it seems that painting is fading away alongside its brushes, and digital art is taking its place. Without resistance, his work adapts to its time. Pez utilizes both worlds—the traditional mediums of paper and canvas, as well as the powerful tool that is the phone. We carry a camera in our hands at all times.

 

The paintings the artist proposes are given a code title and a tracking number, reflecting a detachment from narration or personal emotions. These codes indicate the place of origin, type of support, and production number. This numbering system for the paintings in this project is influenced by artists who use progressions of numbers or dates in their works, methods found in the works of creators like Roman Opalka, On Kawara, or Tatsuo Miyajima.

 

When the artist thinks about the city of Los Angeles, it immediately leads to reflection on immigration and the humanitarian crisis the country in both the U.S. and Mexico. This crisis manifests itself in the context of semi-globalization, where half of the migratory flow is held back against a walled border. One of the video works in this project is a poem by Bruno Madariaga about the experience of a Mexican crossing from Mexico to the United States. The poem is presented in sign language, providing an alternative way to communicate the serious problem we face.

 

Among the artist concerns, is the pressing issue of the Fentanyl epidemic , which is claiming many lives in the U.S. and Mexico. It is an alarming problem that requires immediate action. Various chemical and designer drugs are being contaminated with Fentanyl, and many consumers are unaware of it. In a video, Pez seeks to capture a narration and realism that he does not want to incorporate in his paintings. This theme led him to search for a character or concept that represents this issue. Spontaneously, the thought of Disney world and Mickey Mouse, from which he took a sequence from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." He continue to find many analogies between the epidemic and the out-of-control brooms, flooding both countries.

 

The sound piece is designed to unify all the paintings in the exhibition rooms, with the intention of harmonizing the sounds of Mexico City and Los Angeles. It was recorded at different times of the day and is a collaboration with musician and sound engineer Carlos Torres.

 

"Overnight Delivery" is a project primarily produced in Mexico, and the intention is to embark on a road trip and deliver these artworks to the doors of the Building Bridges Art Exchange. We will document this road trip with sound and video recordings.