Dairy Art Centre in London is presenting a collection of works by Mexican artist Adriana Lara. Brought together by Dairy Art Centre and occupying the front spaces of the Centre, the exhibition features sculpture, silkscreens and inkjet prints, and a selection of her Smoking Kills series.
The question of what it means to be Mexican is one that Lara addresses throughout her work, but she reassesses the politics of identity to fit the moment. In part of an ongoing series entitled Symbol FacesLara has resurrected the 1930s actress and diva Lupe Velez whose stereotypical Mexican accent launched her into the early talking movies. Monochromatic images of a woman’s face are printed on clear plastic and mounted on wooden stretchers. In one, Velez gazes up like a beatific image of the Madonna, in another, stares coolly at the camera, while on her face are superimposed computer keyboard symbols. The incongruity of the symbols emblazoned on the woman’s face alters according to the appearance of the underlying image extending their contextual ambiguity, a characteristic of Lara’s work. Lara is also fascinated by the cycles of art and fashi on. She stages a critique of the disposable in consumer culture, exploring the idea of encryption and desire in a post-internet society.
Adriana Lara lives and works in Mexico City. She has had one-person exhibitions at Kusnsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2012), Air de Paris, France (2012), Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City (2010), Artpace San Antonio (2009) Algus Greenspon, New York (2012-13) and most recently at Indipendenza, Rome (2014). Lara has been featured in numerous group exhibitions including the Marrakech Biennale 5 (2014), dOCUMENTA (13) (2012), CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2012), MUSAC, Spain (2010), the New Museum, New York (2009), and the Jumex Collection in Mexico City (2008). She also participates in the collaborative curatorial project Perros Negros and the music collective Lasser Moderna. Since 2006 Lara edits Pazmaker, a fanzine published in Mexico City.