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David Lamelas (Buenos Aires, 1946)

“I always liked the relationship between art and the context in which it was shown, then I realized I was working with the room”.

Lamelas´ artistic career began in the early 1960s avant-garde scene that gathered around the Torcuato Di Tella Institute in Buenos Aires. From his earliest work in a Pop Art style, he became increasingly interested in appropriating tools and techniques used by mass media to reflect upon notions of time, space, and the transmission, circulation and reception of information. Since the 70s, he has explored these subjects through photography, film and installations, becoming an internationally acclaimed figure in conceptual art.

The designs featured in lalana catalogue were originally conceived in the early 60s, in the context of a textile competition. Aesthetically, they relate to one of his best-known works from this period: El Super Elástico (1965), a large-scale installation that combines the bright colors and popular culture references of Pop art, with shapes that exceed geometry and advance into "situational aesthetics'', which arose from minimalist practice and addressed issues related to the location and the conditions of perception of the works. It draws elements from painting, sculpture, object and ambientation, and is at the same time inspired by the kind of images we might see every day, in this case, a mixture of pictures of football players and a comic book superhero named Plastic Man. Created by illustrator Jack Cole in the 1940s, this character´s superpower was the ability to stretch his body and mold it into any shape imaginable. Much like David Lamelas´ work, which was able to reinvent itself thought different times and places.

He lives and works between Los Angeles, Paris and Buenos Aires.