How to Perform The Simple Act of Positioning

If you live in a city, or better yet, if you walk in a city, there are obstacles you must traverse and movement isn’t always smooth. Things get in the way; construction, cars, other people. Space and place, as a concept, becomes more of a “how to I just get to where I’m going in the fastest way possible.” In looking at José Dávila’s newest show at Sean Kelly in New York, The Simple Act of Positioning, all the works and installation give you a sense of purpose of an object, the power of looking and understanding space, and the idea of how we navigate through a world of perpetual motion and immovable objects.

Dávila, a contemporary Mexican artist, has long been renowned for his sculptural works that explore the delicate balance between construction and destruction, order and chaos. Born in Guadalajara in 1974, Dávila has been creating installations that challenge our understanding of stability and gravity through seemingly precarious arrangements of everyday materials. The sculptures feature industrial materials like concrete blocks, metal sheets, glass, and found objects, assembled in compositions that appear on the verge of collapse yet maintain structural integrity. This tension creates a visual anxiety that speaks to broader themes of fragility in modern life and society.

“The sculptures are not conceived as autonomous objects, but as situations,” Dávila notes. “Each one results from a specific decision that remains visible: a relationship between bodies, materials, and forces that does not seek a definitive resolution.”

Because Dávila does indeed think of his work, his sculptures, as situations, there is an invitation, or a contemplation, of risk, trust, and the precarious nature of our constructed world. Sometimes, things just need to arranged so carefully and poetic for you to see what the bigger picture is. —Evan Pricco