MOCA is rebooting its "Focus" series of one-person exhibitions of emerging artists. First up is Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, whose show at the Geffen Contemporary (paired with the Paul Pfieffer survey) is drawing crowds, including family groups. Apricio's work is idea-dense but visceral, appealing to kids of all ages. Much of the floor space is devoted to
601 sq. ft. for El Playon, a site-specific piece that is both scatological and scrumptious (think a caramel pumpkin-spice brittle). There are many ideas at play here. Aparicio references the poured floor sculptures of process art and California assemblage, for the hardened goo incorporates found objects and documents (facsimiles) from the Central American Resource Center, an immigrants' rights group. The objects are almost literally preserved in amber, for the matrix is a tree sap described as prefossilized amber.
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| Small detail of 601 sq. ft. for El Playon |
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| On floor: Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, 601 sq. ft. for El Playon, 2023 |
601 sq. ft. is also a map. It reproduces the shape of
El Playon, the volcanic mass grave for El Salvadoran autocrat José Napoleon Duarte's victims.
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| Anamorphic painting at entrance |
Another motif of Aparicio's work is anamorphosis. In El Salvador, brand logos and names of political candidates are painted on the roadside rocks so as to become legible from a certain viewpoint. Anamorphosis fascinated Leonardo, Holbein, and the Las Vegas tourists who gape at Sphere. The exhibition's entrance offers one of Aparicio's takes on the theme, an immersive post-Cubist painting that never quite resolves into what it teases.
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| Small detail of Taco, cuca, y màs (Terrace Dr. , Los Angeles, CA), 2023 |
In the Caucho [Rubber] series, Aparicio makes rubber casts of the trunks ficus trees in L.A. neighborhoods with large Salvadoran populations. The casts are flattened to become maps of a sort; in some cases kapok fiber pillows add dimensionality. Painted elements resolve anamorphically from a certain perspective.
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| Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, Taco, cuca, y màs (Terrace Dr. , Los Angeles, CA), 2023 |
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| Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, The Sound of the Forest without Leaves, 2020. Hammer Museum |
"MOCA Focus: Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio" (through June 16, 2024) reaffirms the power of contemporary museums to support artists at early inflection points in their careers. Anna Katz and Anastasia Kahn curated.
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