Untitled 2 by Jorge Pardo

Jorge Pardo

Jorge Pardo is an artist whose visually seductive body of work explores the intersection of contemporary painting, design, sculpture, and architecture. Employing a broad palette of vibrant colors, eclectic patterns, and natural and industrial materials, Pardo’s works range from murals to home furnishings to collages to larger-than-life fabrications. He often transforms familiar objects into artworks with multiple meanings and purposes, such as a set of lamps displayed as both sources of illumination and as freestanding sculptures, or a sailboat exhibited as both a utilitarian, seaworthy vessel and as a striking obelisk. Working on small and monumental scales, Pardo also treats entire public spaces as vast canvases; for one project, he used dramatic, multicolored tile work to redesign the ground floor of the Dia Art Foundation in New York City. For other projects, he has challenged traditional curatorial presentation with installations that consciously ignore the constraints of conventional museum and gallery spaces. His construction and outfitting of a complete house for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a wooden jetty overlooking a lake for Skulptur Projekte Münster in Germany represent examples of his unique artistic approach. In reaching beyond defined aesthetic disciplines, Pardo is engaging viewers in the United States and abroad with works that produce great visual delight while questioning distinctions between fine art and design.

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