Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Miguel Cardenas at Metro Pictures


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As reference to Rousseau's "Sleeping Gypsy," homage here feels more like haunted. Who was Rousseau stealing from anyway?  (Who exactly, were they all stealing from?) Stories of Rousseau's trip with the "French expeditionary force to Mexico are unfounded." However Rousseau referred to them as his "Mexican Pictures." "He likely never left France." "His colleagues’ adventures in Mexico inspired him." "This story seems to be a product of his imagination." Isn't that haunted? "Mexican pictures." Who's ghost? Where do these apparitions float in from? Where do we form ideas of the "Pre-Columbian" and their mixing European lineage. Endlessly misinterpreted until the original is a mistranslation. A image that feels if not without ownership, partially destroyed.