Steve Turner
Los angeles
steveturner.la
@steveturnerla / info@steveturner.la / Future Fair Voices: Steve Turner / Artsy
CAMILO RESTREPO
Steve Turner presents a selection of work by Medellín-based artist, Camilo Restrepo.
Each work is comprised of seventy to one hundred twenty individual sheets of paper that are torn from the artist’s drawing book and then crudely taped together.
Filled with collaged newspaper clippings of aliases of narcos, guerillas and other Colombian underworld figures as well as Restrepo’s cartoon-like representations of the aliases, the various scenarios are connected by a series of red hoses. The hoses pass through the sheet onto the reverse side where there is another complicated system of hoses, both sides alluding to the interconnected intricacy of the armed conflict in Colombia.
Restrepo’s technique reflects the theme of Colombia’s utter devastation and constant rebuilding programs. When the drawing was seemingly complete, he nearly destroyed it with water, crinkling, cutting and scratching. The damage was then repaired with tape and reworked so that the finished work is heavily scarred.