Memorex Narcissus and the Angel of History

2019

Exhibited at:

Silver Eye Center for Photography

“This piece is about how history collapses into objects that are both symbolic and kitsch, like an imploding star. Like how the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend becomes, over time, a Memorex video tape copy of Monty Python’s The Holy Grail.”

Nando Alvarez Perez’s vibrant installations playfully explore big ideas about humanity's distant roots, and its many possible futures. Using photographs, sculpture, found objects, and performances, he shows how culture consumes and replicates itself, over and over, distorting itself as it repeats in ways that generate new ideas. Memorex Narcissus and the Angel of History illustrates this repetition over time by centering the installation around an image that has undergone several layers of processing: a photograph that the artist made of an oil pastel drawing, on an inkjet print, of an iPhone photo, of a magic lantern slide, of a Roman replica of a lost Greek sculpture of wrestlers. The image is surrounded by sci-fi novels and books of critical theory that inform Perez’s visions for the future. Next to the large photo hangs an acrylic cutout, based on a drawing of the artist’s face. Everything is organized within an aluminum frame—a material that references the cheap temporary displays seen at trade shows or sci-fi conventions. Wallpaper created from photographs of Italian frescoes surrounds the installation, and a dozen or so other books, tapes, and seemingly random objects are scattered throughout. However, all of these objects and images reference time on scales that range from human to cosmic, and mythmaking that is both ordinary and epic. Around the corner from the main installation hangs a large-scale photograph of the tombstone of the legendary science fiction writer Philip K. Dick shares with his twin sister Jane, who died in infancy. The image is a memento mori, full of poignant and mysterious details. A toy race car sits on top of the headstone, fake flowers rest before it, and a cat’s face is engraved between the names of the twins. This photograph, like the rest of Perez’s installation, is brimming with monumental wit, wonder, and pathos. — Catalog, Radial Survey, Silver Eye Center for Photography