MASP

An architect by training, Pedro Reyes has worked as a curator and produces sculptures that can eventually be handled by the public or are constructed through participatory processes. His work discusses issues such as labor, distribution of power, or the history of art itself, as revisionist critique. Since 2013, Reyes has been creating a series of sculptures based on the Swiss Army Knife, a multifunctional pocket object that is split into razors, screwdrivers, among other utensils. Reyes’s enlarged versions keep the same elongated and compact shapes of the reference object, but have a structure made of materials such as acrylic or metal. The utensils are appropriations of objects that the artist collects in antique markets and open fairs in Mexico City. In general, the objects in these sculptures replicate the functions of the Swiss Army knife, such as cutting or opening, but there are also versions with flutes, bones, telescopes, or feathers, generating humorous associations. The mixture between appropriated objects and the structure created to replicate the Swiss Army Knife can also be read as a touch of irony, as there is a relation between objects of different scales. This series also raises a discussion about the boundaries between art and design, as the artist is interested in the formal aspects of these objects, who designed, and who built them. Swiss Army Knife XV is made of wood and has objects used in agriculture, such as axes and scythes, paying homage to the workers of the field and their history recorded in these instruments.

— Leandro Muniz, assistent curator, MASP, 2022

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