In the project 60 wrd/min art critic, writer Lori Waxman explores how art writing can serve an expanded field of artists—including those incarcerated, trying to gain visas, working to establish themselves professionally, or just wanting feedback for a secret hobby. For this iteration, Waxman reviews Mauricio López F.’s recent exhibition at Comfort Station.
Mauricio López F.
Nothing made by Mauricio López F. is what it looks to be. In the past, the Chilean artist has presented black traffic cones that are charmingly personable animated objects with the hearts of laborers, as well as a tower of old card catalogue drawers that contains a very real low-rent apartment building of sounds. Indeed, even the artist himself is not quite what’s claimed: a sound artist, says his degree, but veritably he is a crackerjack sculptor. Recently at Comfort Station he presented “Wind Reenactment,” a solo show that utterly, magnificently, hilariously fails to do what it titularly claims. This is not because López F. was unsuccessful at building machines in the service of his goals, but because faking the wind is a ludicrous proposition, and so his constructions had to themselves be absurd: a broken banister that jangles thanks to an overly complex bespoke mechanical system, a tiny flag that stands stiffly in the sound of strong wind, a giant flag to mysterious phenomena. The immensity of effort, the precision of craft, the mischievousness of sincerity on display are astonishing. Naturally, López F. provides toggle switches for turning on and off his pretend wind; the real wind remains uncontrollable and inimitable.
—Lori Waxman 2025-07-16 12:12 PM
Mauricio López F.
mauriciolopezf.com
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