Grinding Teeth (Paste Paper Tools Cutout), Casa Barragán series

Yto Barrada
Grinding Teeth (Paste Paper Tools Cutout), Casa Barragán series, 2021
Acrylic and gesso on cardboard
Frame: 84.1 x 47.9 x 5.1 cm

Fragments of materials interact with each other as self-made tools that inspire new techniques — for instance, cardboard cutouts from the collaged works in Grinding Teeth (2020) are often used as paint brushes to create other paintings, suggesting synchronicity across mediums. Salient to Barrada’s practice are concepts of pleasure, discovery and analysis, which are formulated through key works that experiment with materials (rust, cotton, natural dyes) and traditional processes. Her methodology is influenced by her background in history and political science. By using visual, textual and sculptural relics, the exhibition finds points of anchorage in historical narrative and aesthetic imagination and simultaneously condenses and stretches the frame of time.