Allora & Calzadilla

Lisson Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner

This work is in good condition. Certain solar cell fragments have cracks or small losses, which is inherent to the material and the artist's process.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Through a wide-ranging body of work in various media, Allora & Calzadilla, partners in life and in art based in Puerto Rico, acutely expose and scrutinize areas of political tension in the public sphere: nationhood, environmentalism, states of war and resistance… The artistic duo, who represented the United States at the 2011 Venice Biennale, stunned the art world with five controversial installations. Track and Field, for example, consists of an overturned tank with a treadmill fixed atop, where a real U.S. Olympic athlete jogs in 30-minute intervals. Another installation called Algorithm invites the viewer to become the performer: by withdrawing money from an ATM machine that is installed within a 20-foot-tall wooden pipe organ without keys, knobs or pedals, the viewer can activate the organ to play tunes.

With a strong – outlandish at times – conceptual bend, the duo’s practice heightens our understanding of a given material, investigating on its symbolic dimension, tracing the many marks of history, culture and politics. In the present lot, Solar Catastrophe, solar panels are broken into geometric shapes to form a striking abstract collage on canvas. The solar panel – a seemingly ubiquitous symbol of environmental progress today, deconstructed on a canvas to be merely decorative alludes to an aestheticization of environmental activism and perhaps the hypocrisy of it all. A simple re-appropriation of material yields a conceptually rich work, in its politically charged subject matter, unique choice of material and emotional impact.