Luis Gispert Aqua Regia

Aqua Regia is Luis Gispert’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, presenting a series of two-dimensional works, each comprised of quasi-asphalt slabs embedded with varied strands of gold chain. Concepts surrounding American culture and the fetishization of value have inspired the artist’s work over the years, and those interests continue to serve as the basis from which all his ideas evolve.

The work presented in Aqua Regia translates through visual and tactile methods. Densely black planks appear interrupted by channels of delicately metallic line in a nonobjective abstract manner. At closer inspection, these expressionistic works disclose to the viewer and confess not to be minimalist paintings. Gispert’s panels reveal a particular style of line and each piece serves as a sample of analysis, identifying marks associated directly to this artist’s hand.

With idiosyncratic conviction, the artist posits these monolithic plates – weighty, black stratum objects, comprised of a coarse gravel-like substance, routed with gold-plated metal alloy chains, it is as if some apery regalia drifted into a simulated asphalt cosmos. This impossible moment argues physics, like counterfeit DNA unable to reproduce. Gispert’s seductive aesthetic connects us to a reality of material contradictions, providing an imitation paradigm of contemporary life.