Untitled from 'Lo que el fuego me trajo' (What fire has brought to me)

Adrián Villar Rojas

Argentine sculptor and 2011 Venice Biennale exhibitor Adrián Villar Rojas produces monumental site-specific works, primarily in clay. The artist first chose the material for its low price and availability, but since then it has come to influence his concept of form. With their crude physicality and cracked surfaces, his sculptures are redolent of ruins, but their forms are more futuristic than antiquated. A person loved me (2012), a towering structure of interconnected pipes created for the New Museum’s 2012 triennial, was a largely site-responsive work for which Villar Rojas and his team improvised new working methods, applying clay to pieces of polystyrene. My dead family (2009) portrayed a life-size whale, made primarily of clay, wood, and rocks, lying beached in a forest in Patagonia. His pieces are typically destroyed after being exhibited, becoming a sort of temporary performance. “I really love the idea of not having a body of work,” says Villar Rojas, who lists comic books and grunge music as influences.