‘I’m trying to do something radically different in a beautiful comfortable way.’
Over the past decade, the borders between artistic techniques have become increasingly amorphous: some of the most pertinent ideas have emerged from the productive cross-pollination between different disciplines, genres, cultures and media. Los Angeles artist Jorge Pardo skilfully traverses the ambiguous territory between art, architecture and design to create installations that defy easy categorisation. He has created relaxing environments that include decorative artefacts and home furnishings designed or selected by himself, resulting in an art that is as enjoyable to look as it is to use.
In striving for a convergence of art, lifestyle and entertainment, Pardo liberally explores and indulges in the formal, stylistic and ideological aberrations of the recent past – a period of legendary bad taste and kitsch but also of bold, integrative utopian concepts. Pardo skilfully plays with art-historical orthodoxies and transcends popular stereotypes of abstract art and public sculpture through his infectious and engaging use of colour form and movement in space. In his sculptural works, Pardo redefines the conventional notion of ‘public sculpture’.