Marco Maggi (Montevideo, Uruguay, 1957) . Lives and works in New York and Montevideo.
The paper and intimate nature are emblematic of Marco Maggi’s work, even when referring to his large-scale installations. Ever since his career was consolidated, in the 1990s, he has encouraged his viewers, in a humorous and poetic manner, to slow down a little and observe, pay attention and delve into his works, into the life around them and the society in which they live.
In the series The Ted Turner Collection – from CNN to the DNA, Maggi assumes a sharp critical authority, plenty of white paper and borrows from prints of renowned artists’ works, such as Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol and Hélio Oiticica, to comment on the state and media condition of the life around us. The piles of blank paper cover the prints, turned away from the public, and, arranged with great care and attention, create reliefs and openings that reveal colour traces of the print hidden underneath, forming a great white landscape with small coloured openings.
His drawings are made with fine lines, carefully sketched in needlepoint, pencil or etched on acrylic. In Sliding (2008), the drawing is on aluminium foil, which is given an industrial slide frame, revealing the lines through the established grid. His installations also involve paper, but the numerous piles, the distance, do not reveal their nature; one must come closer, gain a certain intimacy with Maggi's works, and dedicate one's time to them and to what they can reveal.
The paper and intimate nature are emblematic of Marco Maggi’s work, even when referring to his large-scale installations. Ever since his career was consolidated, in the 1990s, he has encouraged his viewers, in a humorous and poetic manner, to slow down a little and observe, pay attention and delve into his works, into the life around them and the society in which they live.
In the series The Ted Turner Collection – from CNN to the DNA, Maggi assumes a sharp critical authority, plenty of white paper and borrows from prints of renowned artists’ works, such as Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol and Hélio Oiticica, to comment on the state and media condition of the life around us. The piles of blank paper cover the prints, turned away from the public, and, arranged with great care and attention, create reliefs and openings that reveal colour traces of the print hidden underneath, forming a great white landscape with small coloured openings.
His drawings are made with fine lines, carefully sketched in needlepoint, pencil or etched on acrylic. In Sliding (2008), the drawing is on aluminium foil, which is given an industrial slide frame, revealing the lines through the established grid. His installations also involve paper, but the numerous piles, the distance, do not reveal their nature; one must come closer, gain a certain intimacy with Maggi's works, and dedicate one's time to them and to what they can reveal.
