artist / participant

press release

LACE, in partnership with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) at Harvard University, is proud to present an exhibition of recent photographs and video by Venezuelan artist Alexander Apóstol. The exhibition, curated by Bill Kelley, Jr., features two large-scale photographic series-Residente Pulido and Residente Pulido, Ranchos-as well as new video work. The exhibition will premiere at LACE in September 2006 and run through December 2006. The exhibition will then travel to Harvard University under the sponsorship of the David Rockefeller Latino and Latin American Art Forum.

Bill Kelley, Jr. writes of Apóstols work: "In a post-identity world, where subjective memories and histories now take on a more important role, discussions around urbanism carry a gentrifying signpost while, ironically enough, investing the city with new political and discursive possibilities." Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Apóstol contrasts the city's cultural environment with some of the utopian ideals that have shaped its architecture in order to consider the connecting threads between place and time, history and actuality. As Apóstol re-appropriates, re-contextualizes, and sometimes even digitally manipulates images of Modernist edifices in a current state of dilapidation, he attempts to reconcile the ideological failings of the past with the socio-political and economic realities of the present. In a city like Los Angeles, where early 20th century urban planning now forces us into unique patterns of metropolitan life, this type of thoughtful investigation is a key process in understanding our local environment.

Pressetext

Alexander Apostol: Selected Works