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Claudia Fernández
is one of Mexico’s new generation of artists exploring the visual
idioms of the contemporary
vernacular urbanscape of Mexico City. The images
in Doors I are constructed from details of color photographs taken
by the artist of the facades of domestic architecture in middle-class
neighborhoods. This digitally manipulated photographic print features
one element from a set of houses – garages – and is a
spectacular reorganization of the commonplace. By both focusing in
on and manipulating the images, the artist has placed the functional
and decorative aspects of the portals in a new context of pattern
and repetition. Like the American conceptual
artist, Sol LeWitt, who made photographic grids
in the late 1970s, Fernández removes the subject from the fabric
of the scene in order to place it into the geometric system of the
picture plane. Doors I features the closed doors of car garages
reconfigured in patterns that suggest men’s ties and shirts.
The brightly colored and decorative barriers to entry allow for a
glimpse inside—to an empty space, a car, or even a family. The
photograph gives a view of the metaphoric possibilities of common
building elements.  (For Grades K-2) What sort of mood do these colors give you? Why? Are these shapes geometric or organic? Do you think this is a painting or a photograph? Why do you think the artist named this work “Doors”? |
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Claudia Fernandez Mexico, born 1965 Doors I Digital color photograph on paper, mounted on metal, 1998, printed 2001 Gift of the Suzanne Figi Latin American and Contemporary Art Fund 2001:3 © San Diego Museum of Art |
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