Info

Born in 1957 in Montevideo, Uruguay
Lives and works in New York, USA

Article

Marco Maggi

Marco Maggi makes silence visible. His strategy is to encourage viewers to spontaneously slow down, observe for a prolonged period, and uncover almost invisible nuances of shades and shapes in his works, while simultaneously taking the time to experience the tranquility and their perception of themselves.

The installation Hotbed can be described as a miniature monument made of 49 letter-size stacks of paper topped with delicate cutouts and folds. Projected oversize onto a wall or as a moving image on the screen, Hotbed would overwhelm spectators, appearing as a giant utopian cityscape whose monumental minimalist blocks are crowned with exquisite triangles, squares, circles, and various twists that could be mistaken for architectural and sculptural forms in concrete and steel.

Instead, viewers bend down, to absorb and enjoy the tranquility of the miniature, delicately cut-out shapes in the stillness of the white gallery. This work may call to mind a utopian plan or a map of an unknown site–not as a vision of the future but rather as a visualization conveying sensory communication. Delineated by a series if individual stacks of 500 white sheets of paper placed neatly one beside the other at 5 cm intervals to form a grid, Hotbed occupies a moderately sized space of approx. 180 x 240 cm. Its glowing energy gently halts the audience and invites them to contemplate the paper micro-sculptures.

The qualities Maggi upholds are those of aesthetic and ethical silence in art as opposed to the assault of present-day visual and auditory contamination. Maggi says that the more his work is surrounded by negativity, darkness, and the chaos of the world, the more it becomes expectant with silence. In an age obsessed with instant messaging, live events that flood social spaces, the supremacy of the audiovisual, and the speed of modern-day life, Maggi brings to our attention the need for process and contemplation, the desire for intimacy and interval. He sees the public’s interaction with his pieces as a “beautiful performance” in which his work becomes “behavior collector.”

Marco Maggi uses simple means of expression: he makes marks on paper, apples, zinc, woodblocks, silk, aluminum, photographic slides, plastic, and other materials using a knife. Yet his intention is to communicate ideas that are ultimately about—and in opposition to—the complexity of our contemporary technology-dominated existence. He is set on slowing down the process of discerning the significant from the superfluous and invites us to become a creative part of the intense and pure phenomenological experience.

Milena Kalinovska

Daros Exhibitions
Bibliography
Selected titles in our library

3ra Bienal de Montevideo. El espejo enterrado. Exhibition catalogue, Bienal de Montevideo, Uruguay, September 29 - December 4, 2016. With texts by Jacqueline Lacasa, Alfons Hug (et al.). Mondevideo, Fundación Bienal de Montevideo, 2016.

Marco Maggi. Exhibition catalogue, "Global Myopia", Venice Biennial, Italy, May 9 - November 22, 2015, "Vuelva usted mañana", Galería Cayón, Madrid, Spain, February 26 - April 18, 2015, "Unfolding Marco Maggi", Josée Bienvenue Gallery, New York, USA, September 10 - October 24, 2015. With a text by François Cusset. New York, Josée Bienvenue Gallery / Madrid, Galería Cayón, 2015.

Monochrome undone. Exhibition catalogue, SPACE, Irvine, California, USA, October 24, 2015 - April 1, 2016. With texts by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, and Carlos E. Palacios. Fitch, Irvine CA, Sayago & Pardon / Barcelona, RM, 2015.

Marco Maggi. XVII Premio Figari. Exhibition catalogue, Museo Figari, Montevideo, Uruguay, December 2012 - Feburary 2013. With a text by Ángel Kalenberg. Montevideo, Museo Figari, 2012.

XI Bienal de Cuenca. Entre-abierto. Aperturas, conexiones y derivas en el arte actual (Vol. 1: Atrabiliario, vol. 2: Hacia un meridiano inquietante, vol. 3: En defensa de la delicadeza). Exhibition catalogue, Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador, November 11, 2011 - January 31, 2012. With texts by Fernando Castro Flórez, Agnaldo Farias, Katya Cazar Almache (et al.). Cuenca, Fundación Municipal Bienal de Cuenca, 2012.

ArtNexus Brasil en Colombia. Artnexus, Arte en Colombia. Antología de textos. Edited by Adriano Pedrosa. Bogotá, ArtNexus / Arte en Colombia, 2011.

Al calor del pensamiento. Obras de la Daros Latinamerica Collection = Al calor del pensamiento. Works from the Daros Latinamerica Collection. Exhibition catalogue, Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid, Spain, February 3 - April 30, 2010. With texts by Katrin Steffen (et al.). Madrid, Fundación Banco Santander, 2010.

In transition. 2010 CIFO grants and commissions program exhibition. Exhibition catalogue, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, USA, September 2 - November 7, 2010. With a text by Patricia García-Velez and interviews with the artists (José Roca with Marco Maggi. Miami, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, 2010.

XVII Bienal Arte Paiz. Ver para creer. Exhibition catalogue, April 17 - May 9, 2010. With texts by José Roca (et al.). Guatemala, Fundación Paiz, 2010.

MERA07. Memorias del Encuentro Regional de Arte, Montevideo 2007. Volumen 3. Escenas subregionales. Exhibition catalogue, Montevideo August 8 - September 30, 2007. With texts by Ana Tiscornia, Gustavo Buntinx, Virginia Pérez-Ratton, Ticio Escobar (et al.). Montevideo, Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes Juan Manuel Blanes, 2009.

Campodónico, Miguel Ángel. Diccionario de la cultura uruguaya. Montevideo, Linardi y Risso, 2007.

IKF Latin American art auction 2007. Cisneros Fontanals art foundation. Auction catalogue, IKF Latin American Art Auction at the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, November 8, 2007. Miami, International Kids Fund, 2007.

La condición video. 25 años de videoarte en el Uruguay. Catalogue, published in conjunction with the exhibition at Centro Cultural de España, Montevideo, 2007. With texts by Enrique Aguerre (et al.). Montevideo, Centro Cultural de España, 2007.

Poetics of the handmade. Exhibition catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, April 22 - August 13, 2007. With texts by Alma Ruiz (et al.). Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007.

Olivares, Rosa (ed.). 100 artistas Latinoamericanos = 100 Latin American artists. Madrid, Exit, 2006.

29 Bienal de Pontevedra. Imagined Movements between Galicia and the Southern Cone. Exhibition catalogue, Bienal de Pontevedra, Spain, July 13 - September 3, 2006. With texts by Victoria Noorthoorn, Gabriel Peluffo Linari, Cecilia Brunson (et al.). Pontevedra, Bienal de Pontevedra, 2006.

Estrecho dudoso. Exhibition catalogue, TEOR/éTica, San José, Costa Rica, December 1, 2006 - Feburary 15, 2007. With texts by Virgina Pérez-Ratton, Tamara Díaz Bringas, Justo Pastor Mellado (et al.). San José, Costa Rica, TEOR/éTica, 2006.

Brugnoli, Francisco. Memoria MAC 1998-2005. Santiago de Chile, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, 2006.

Dexter, Emma (ed.). Vitamin Z. Neue Perspektiven in der Zeichnung. Berlin, Phaidon, 2006.

Quinta Bienal do Mercosul. Uma história concisa da Bienal do Mercosul. Exhibition catalogue, Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, September 30 - December 4, 2005. With a text by Gaudêncio Fidelis. Porto Alegre, Fundação Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, 2005.

San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial. Latin America and the Caribbean. Trans/migrations: Graphic art as contemporary art. Catalogue published in conjunction with the San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial, December 4, 2004 - March 6, 2005. With texts by Mari Carmen Ramírez (et al.). San Juan, Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 2004.

4a Bienal do Mercosul. Genetic archaeology. Exhibition catalogue, 4a. Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, Porto Alegre. Edited by Nelson Aguilar, with contributions by Eduardo Góes Neves (et al.). Porto Alegre, Fundação Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, 2003.

Marco Maggi. Construcciones & demoliciones. Dibujos en español. Exhibition catalogue, Centro Cultural de España, Montevideo, Uruguay, May - June 2003. With texts by Patricia Bentancur (et el.). Montevideo, Centro Cultural de España, 2003.

Octava Bienal de la Habana. El arte con la vida. Exhibition catalogue, 8th Habana Biennial, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wilfredo Lam, La Habana, Cuba, 2003. With texts by Rafael Acosta de Arriba, Hilda María Rodríguez Enríquez (et al.). La Habana, Consejo Nacional de Artes Plásticas / Centro Wifredo Lam, 2003.

A gaze from the south = Una mirada desde el sur. Exhibition catalogue, Uruguayan Cultural Center, New York, 2000. With texts by Alfredo Torres, Gabriel Peluffo, and Claudia Larnaudie. New York, Uruguayan Cultural Center, 2000.

Artworks