‘Crisálida’ Exhibition Announcement

RUYA MAPS will launch its inaugural project, an exhibition of work by Venezuelan artist Pepe López (b.1966) in London’s Fitzrovia Chapel. ‘Crisálida’ will be López’s first solo exhibition in the UK and will showcase the artist’s large-scale installation of the same name, originally shown at Espacio Monitor, Caracas in October 2017.

The installation is 18 metres in length and is composed of 200 objects wrapped in polyethylene film. Originating from the artist’s family home in Caracas, the objects include a car, a motorcycle, a piano and an urn, as well as books, tools, toys and maps. Their methodical arrangement suggests an imminent move or the need for storage. Examining notions around cocooning and mummifying, the work explores the powerful emotional charge of being uprooted or exiled and references the particular social drift extant in Venezuela, a country that has experienced near consistent political instability since the 1980s.