Alejandro García Contreras “Who hasn’t tried to turn a stone into a memory?” at PioneerWorks in Brooklyn, New York

In his latest exhibition, Who hasn’t tried to turn a stone into a memory? Alejandro Garcia Contreras presents a compelling reflection on memory, culture, and identity. The space at Pioneer Works, where Contreras is an artist-in-residence, is transformed into a conceptual archaeological site, interspersed by mounds of sand, ceramic sculptures, and ornamental concrete pillars evoking an ancient temple or tomb. These elements form a landscape where contemporary and mythological imagery coexist, engaging viewers in the universal yet deeply personal desire to leave a trace—a moment where ephemeral human existence is transformed into myth.   

With his ceramic sculptures and architectural forms that bridge mythological symbols and pop culture, Garcia Contreras underscores the homogenizing effect of contemporary culture alongside the enduring weight of historical artifacts. The artist uses mounds of sand to evoke both the elemental composition of his ceramic works and the metaphysical erosion of culture over time. In this way, sand symbolizes creation and decomposition, marking both the origin of material and its inevitable return to dust. The artist’s interest in ceramics as an alchemical process further emphasizes this notion as each piece undergoes a transformative process involving fire and pressure to arrive at new forms, preserving moments and storing them within objects as a testament to their existence.

The exhibition centers around a video projection set within a poured concrete frame adorned with surrealistic reliefs depicting faces, masks, hands, and mandalic shapes—a portal that gestures towards the unknowable, suspended between witness and relic. The video was shot entirely by Contreras with his iPhone over the span of a year. Through this modern-day portal, Garcia Contreras contemplates the role of technology in the shift from physical to digital memory–the latter a disembodied memory, no longer reliant on material artifacts. For Contreras, the phone becomes an object that connects realms and disparate points in time, acting as a repository for memories and experience. 

Words by Anfisa Vrubel

Images courtesy of the artist

On view until December 15th, 2024

Pioneerworks 

159 Pioneer Street

Brooklyn, NY 11231

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