JUAN PABLO PLAZAS
SUNBAKER´S REVERIE
FEBRUARY 1 - MARCH 2, 2024
CHAUFFEUR SYDNEY
REQUEST THE CATALOGUE
SUNBAKER´S REVERIE
FEBRUARY 1 - MARCH 2, 2024
CHAUFFEUR SYDNEY
REQUEST THE CATALOGUE
Sunbaker´s Reverie
Watercolour and pencil on folded carson paper, tape, museum glass, board, wood frame, unique 52 x 40 cm
2023
Plazas is known to break through the ‘dead normal everyday object’ and invites us to comprehend objects as animated living matter. For his first solo exhibition in Sydney, Juan Pablo Plazas turns his lavish attention to the iconic Australian image, Sunbaker (1937) by Max Dupain.
Brussels based Colombian artist translates Dupain´s iconic image into a series of sculpture and drawings to question and challenge the representation of the body and create an awareness with the use of the viewer´s own imagination.
Selected solo exhibitions include S.M.A.K, Gent, CENTRALE for Contemporary Art, Brussels, Bureau des Realities, Brussels, Hector, Mexico City, CRISPR, Bogota, Mieke Van Schaijk s-Hertogenbosch and Double Sejour, Paris. Plazas will debut in the US at Open Source, New York in 2025.
Public collections include Frederic de Goldschmidt Collection Brussels and Oliver Vandenberge Collection, Belgium. Plazas first mongraph was published by Posture Editions, Belgium in 2021.
Abs In Your Face (The Intruder)
foam torso, polyester cap, rubber, cotton thread
57 x 35 x 16 cm
Performance, wearable sculpture
2018
image courtesy of the artist
foam torso, polyester cap, rubber, cotton thread
57 x 35 x 16 cm
Performance, wearable sculpture
2018
image courtesy of the artist
For Plazas the original Sunbaker is perceived as an icon of what appears to be quintessentially an Australian sunny lifestyle. What we see is a body somehow active in the act of doing nothing. A body lying on the ground, doing nothing. Roasting in the sun, giving up on itself. Planning to stay long enough to create a crust out of his skin that gives the impression of living a healthy life. What exactly do we know is going on the insides? or in the mind of the Sunbaker?
Plazas, states, I mean do we really know how the insides of someone so tanned really look? What happens inside a body when so much focus is placed on the outside?
That's the thing, we don't know. And I'm not talking about the organs of the Sunbaker but about his thoughts, his imaginary fabrications and emotional landscape.
installation view
images courtesy of MIchael Waite
Plazas, states, I mean do we really know how the insides of someone so tanned really look? What happens inside a body when so much focus is placed on the outside?
That's the thing, we don't know. And I'm not talking about the organs of the Sunbaker but about his thoughts, his imaginary fabrications and emotional landscape.
installation view
images courtesy of MIchael Waite
Hips
Swimsuit, rubber motorcycle tyre, stainless steel
83 x 40 cm (variable height)
2014
One Hand as a Clamp, as Bacteria On It's Own
Pencil and watercolour on paper, blue tape, unframed
30 x 42 cm
2024
Sunbaker's Awakening, An Eye Over The Head
Pencil and watercolour on carson paper, blue tape, unframed
30 x 42 cm
2024
Framing available please contact the gallery to discuss.
Feature in Belle Magazine (AU)...
