PEDRO LASCH

PEDRO LASCH

PEDRO LASCH

 

 

 

ABOUT PEDRO LASCH

Pedro Lasch (Mexico/USA) is a visual artist, Duke University professor, and Social Practice Lab director at The Franklin Humanities Institute. He is also director of Duke’s Artistic Research Initiative, with support from the Mellon Foundation (2023-2026). Solo exhibitions and projects include Open Routines (QMA), Black Mirror (Nasher), Abstract Nationalism (Phillips Collection), Art of the MOOC (Creative Time), A Sculptural Proposal for the Zócalo (Casa Wabi) and Politics of Fiction (Espacio México, Montreal); group exhibitions include MoMA PS1, MASS MoCA (USA); RCA, Hayward Gallery, Baltic (UK); Centro Nacional de las Artes, MUAC, National Palace Gallery (Mexico); Prospect 4 Triennial New Orleans (2017), Gwangju Biennial (2006), Havana Biennial (2015), Documenta 13 (ANDANDAND, 2012), Documenta 15 (Atis Rezistans GB, 2022), and 56th Venice Biennale (Creative Time Special Project, 2015). Author of six books, his work has appeared in numerous catalogues, as well as journals like October Magazine, Saber Ver, Art Forum, ARTnews, Cultural Studies, The New York Times, and La Jornada. His online pedagogical artwork ART of the MOOC (English/Spanish) has had over 73,000 enrolled participants in 134 countries since it launched in 2015. Lasch’s first international retrospective (November 22, 2023 – May 19, 2024) at the Laboratorio Arte Alameda & INBAL (National Institute for Fine Arts and Literature) in Mexico City, included over one-hundred artworks from the last thirty years, and is the largest exhibition on his work to date.

STATEMENT – FIFTY SHADES OF PURPLE

Fifty Shades of Purple (2024) is a new series by Pedro Lasch. Each work in the set is shown with a plaque dedicated to a specific problem of the American political system. What at first sight appear to be cold geometric abstractions, turn out to be sensuously layered oil paintings. Using Renaissance glazing and other historical techniques, each painting meticulously traces an intuitive path to arrive at fifty distinct sections of purple.