Abigail Lazkoz

This Side of Paradise

Abigail Lazkoz’ work reflects on the relationship between the individual and society through the lens of gender, memory, violence, hierarchy and history. Her preferred medium is drawing, which she considers, “ a media of freedom, modest, straightforward and portable, a perfectly frugal language suitable for a “war economy”. For this site specific installation which combines large works on paper, wall drawings and sculptural elements, Lazkoz aims to challenge the conventional interactions between drawings, the exhibition space and the viewer.

Strangers may care more for your sentimental debris is a recreation of the mix of broken furniture, undefined bulky structures, personal objects and memory remains that she encountered when she first visited the abandoned rooms of the Andrew Freedman House. Formally, The ink on paper large drawings are build through the combination of “drier” geometric, manufactured-like shapes, hanging candelabra, worn out garlands, pieces of rope and clothes, broken objects, and human limbs. In her own words: “I wanted to create a paradoxically overflowing and luscious pile of trash. For the luscious part I had in mind some old photos depicting the gone with the wind splendor of the Grand Concourse and “amenities” such as the Loewe’s Paradise Theater a few blocks away”.

This work has been possible Thanks to the support of the General Consulate of Spain in New York