Darío Escobar

Darío Escobar (Guatemalan, b. 1971).

Deconstructed skateboard joined by gold-plated steel hinges.

Sculpture.

"Darío Escobar's desire to bring together Guatemala's past and present first came to the fore in the early 2000s with a series of works exploring his country's baroque past and the enthusiasm for sports that predominates among its population today."

—Alma Ruiz

Using skateboards and various other sports equipment, Darío has effectively and often humorously deconstructed the forms, uses and meanings of the objects with which he works. While he has successfully applied this approach to a myriad of common objects such as bicycle tires, camping gear, McDonald’s cups, shopping carts and chrome bumpers, the perspective applied via his use of sports equipment is particularly relevant.

Darío’s edition with The Lapis Press is inspired by his work, Sin título, expanding on Darío’s investigation into the global sports industry and the phenomenon of skateboarding as a lifestyle. In Sin título, Darío literally deconstructs a skateboard and reconstructs it with a series of hinges. By removing its use value and recontextualizing it as art (effectively appropriating Marcel Duchamp’s approach to his readymades), Darío presents in stark relief the culture of skateboarding beyond the sport.

Signed, dated and numbered

Direct from the publisher