MARTÍN SOTO CLIMÉNT - Gossip: Stockholm

It is with great pleasure that we announce the gallery’s first exhibition with renowned Mexican artist Martín Soto Climént. The opening takes place in presence of the artist on March 5 between 6-8 pm.

Soto Climént is well known for his surrealist manipulation of images and objects. His practice refers to the forms of the body and the psychology of desire embedded within an economy of consumption. By re-contextualising ever so slightly and executing delicate re-arrangements by ways of appropriation and juxtaposition his works often have the humble quality of the ready-made or appear to be fragile assemblages exploring issues of temporality, desire, decay and marginality. Soto Climént creates objects, installations, sculptures and photographs sourcing materials and imagery from the quotidian and his interventions into everyday objects are occasionally temporary.

The concept of folds is central to the artist’s practice and his work is highly adept at drawing out libidinous subtleties of images and objects using minimal gestures. Soto Climént’s work aims to seek, unleash and share the invisible energy, already present. Reminiscent of conceptual art strategies like appropriation or juxtaposition, his works are the result of slight re-contextualization and delicate rearrangement.

The exhibition title Gossip refers to a series of sophisticated three-dimensional objects made using simple tights, plexiglass and a cedar box, where Soto Climént uses techniques of folding, stretching and twisting to create sculptures that express volume, shadows, reflection and ultimately movement. The stockings refer directly to the body and the intimacy of the skin and are as artificial as they are apparently natural. Gossip is an imprecise term that entails a degree of intimacy whilst linking the individual with others.

Martín Soto Climént was born in 1977 in Mexico City where he lives and works. Recent institutional solo-exhibitions include Hessel Museum of Art, Hudson USA, Museo Universitario del Chopo Mexico City, Museo Pietro Canonica Rome, Palais de Tokyo Paris, Kunsthalle Wintherthur, El ECO Museo Experimental, New Jersey Musuem of Contemporary Art and Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil. His work is to be found in numerous collections such as Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA, Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA, Colección Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico, Loewe Foundation, MCA Chicago, Chicago, USA, Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland, MOCA, Miami, USA, and the François Pinault Foundation, among others.

Together with curator Chris Sharp, Soto Climént founded the independent project space Lulu in Mexico City in 2013. He graduated 2015 with a Master’s degree in Visual Arts from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.