Sculpting Time

Proyecto H presents, for the first time, the work of artists David Gonçalves (Porto, 1987) and Pablo de Laborde Lascaris (Mexico City, 1985), titled Sculpting Time.  The exhibition will be open from 7th November until early January 2025.

This exhibition invites us to explore the boundaries of the body, time, materiality, and silence, through a profound reflection on memory and nature. Both artists propose an approach centered on the transformation of materials and the re-signification of objects. While Gonçalves guides us towards a reflection on the interaction of the body with nature, De Laborde Lascaris challenges us to reconsider the meaning of objects in their inactivity. Thus, their work presents itself as a dialogue that connects society, memory, and the passage of time.

David Gonçalves establishes a clear dialogue between sculpture and drawing, using both media to explore the experience of the body in relation to its surroundings. Through his visits to industrial quarries, he has created a link between the physicality of the body and the monumentality of natural landscapes transformed by human hands. The quarries, seen as repositories of raw material, hide a more complex narrative that Gonçalves reveals in his works: the interaction between the human hand and the natural environment. His drawings, densely worked with graphite and laden with palpable physicality, create a tactile experience that connects the viewer to the artist’s body and the weight of time.

The drawings and paper sculptures featured in this exhibition are the result of an intimate process, where each stroke and fold represents a dialogue between the artist, his body, and natural materials, particularly the graphite mineral, which is tied to an ancestral and geological memory. The strokes flow from an unconscious place, liberated from strict methodologies, where the memory of the body’s movements defines every line and crease.

At the center of the room stands the piece Three Scoops of Rust, presented by Pablo de Laborde Lascaris, consisting of three enormous bells made of red travertine. Inspired by the bells on ice cream carts found in parks throughout Mexico, these pieces lose their original function in the hands of the artist. The playful nature of the work turns into irony: the bells, made of a stone so dense that it is impossible to make them ring, are immobilized, trapped between sheets of rusted steel that keep them in a perpetual silence.

Travertine, with its characteristic reddish hue due to the high iron oxide content, adds a dimension of density and permanence that contrasts sharply with the fragility and dynamism of everyday objects. This contrast becomes a vehicle for questioning the functionality of these objects, a recurring theme in De Laborde Lascaris’ work. Thus, this series of sculptures stands as a clear example of his ability to subvert and reinterpret common artifacts, inviting deeper reflection on their meaning. By destabilizing the function and context of these objects, De Laborde Lascaris urges us to rethink the concept of sculpture and the relationship between form and utility.

The exhibition thus becomes a space where shapes, materials, and stories are suspended, allowing time and silence to resonate within the aesthetic experience. The work of both artists creates a visual language that balances fragility and stability, while also generating a narrative about the passage of time. Together, they not only question the functionality of objects but also highlight the memory that resides in each material, creating a conceptual web that invites the viewer to reflect on temporality and transformation in their respective artistic practices.