Description:

Northwestern Engineering and the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art present:

Abraham Cruzvillegas: Self-Construction

Abraham Cruzvillegas (b. 1968) is one of the most important conceptual artists of his generation to come out of the vibrant art and architecture scene in Mexico.

Cruzvillegas has garnered much attention for his dynamic assemblage sculptures made of found objects. Interested in improvised building materials and techniques, he roots his sculptural practice within the urban landscape of his childhood home in Ajusco, a district in the south of Mexico City. To this day, Ajusco’s landscape of volcanic rock remains a work in process, with structures in a constant state of transformation as additions are made when materials become available and necessity dictates.

This way of working — what he calls autoconstrucción, or "self-construction" — has become the basis of Cruzvillegas’s own thinking and methodology, while operating as a rich metaphor for the articulation of individual identity and place. Cruzvillegas will discuss his current project entitled the The Water Trilogy, which focuses on water in urban contexts, including specific issues of pollution and water shortage. He will also discuss his installation Empty Lot which consists of discarded materials from various London construction sites built into the structure of the installation.