Carlos Rodriguez-Mendez

The Spanish artist Carlos Rodríguez-Méndez (1968, Pontevedra) will install a gigantic minimalist sculpture in the Kunst Nu rooms at the S.M.A.K. The ‘scars’ the work and the presentation space suffer during the installation will remain visible and tangible to the spectator. In this way the work will disprove the typical discourse of Minimalism, because, rather than pursuing a balanced relationship, it will become a sculptural study of the (enlarged) ratio of scale between body, sculpture and space.

Rodríguez-Méndez bases his sculptural work on the material and physical creative process. The whole evolution, from its construction to its installation in the exhibition space, is an essential part of his work. Through his use of plain, perishable and ephemeral materials such as earth and peat, and minimalist imagery, his work is situated somewhere between Arte Povera and Minimalism.

Rodríguez-Méndez uses his body as a component in his sculptural work. He does this by way of ‘performative sketches’ in which he ‘positions’ himself in the (public) space. In this way he lays the conceptual foundations for later monumental sculptures which often prove to be too large for the room in which they are ultimately presented. The work is only complete when the physical aspect is inherently present both in the process of creation and in the presentation.

Carlos Rodriguez-Mendez
Kurator: Thibaut Verhoeven