▲ Atmosphere Collapse, Latex paint on panel, 152.4x273.7cm, 2023 © Loriel Beltrán, Lehmann Maupin

The contemporary artist Loriel Beltrán holds a solo exhibition, 'Total Collapse' at Lehmann Maupin Seoul.

Loriel Beltrán is a Venezuelan-American contemporary artist who combines the concepts of painting and sculpture. The artist was influenced by Latin American modernism and postwar painting in the United States. He explains his view of creation by breaking down the boundaries between images and objects, surfaces and entitles, and planes and structures to realize color as a complex.

▲ a field of signs, Latex paint on panel, 88.9x139.7cm, 2022 © Loriel Beltrán, Lehmann Maupin

The artist dries various paints by pouring them into a canvas-sized mold, then builds a lump by stacking layers of materials, such as cups or Styrofoam. He creates his work by cutting the lumps thinly and attaching the pieces to panels.

He uses waste such as paper cups and Styrofoam that we throw away in his works, which reminds him of environmental pollution problems. He is interested in the conflicting parts of the same garbage, which can be displayed in art galleries or buried in landfills.

▲ OB atmosphere, Latex paint on panel, 101.6x228.6cm, 2023 © Loriel Beltrán, Lehmann Maupin

He visited Korea on the 9th and said, "What I wanted to realize by attaching the broken pieces was the possibility of a new painting" and explained that his interest lies in materiality and optics. His work, which is produced in geological form, creates a gradient in the color scheme and shape created by the stacking of paint and materials. Regarding this phenomenon, he states, "Literally, gravity acts on the artworks. It's because of its weight that I have to use wood panels instead of canvases".

Through the exhibition, the artist asks the audience and even humanity, 'Total Collapse, what remains behind it?'. The audience will be able to consider the environmental problems facing the global society and the philosophy of human existence.

The exhibition will be held at Lehmann Maupin Seoul, located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, until the 23rd.

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com