Alexander Chaves
BullyngInquire about availability
- Year
- 2014
- Technique
- Art Object
- Dimensions
- 10 × 5 × 30 cm
- Status
- Inquire about availability
Curatorial analysis
Curatorial analysis
The crowding of dozens of school pencils, squeezed until they form a compact block, produces a bristling surface that recalls a sharp brush or a defensive palisade. The sharpened graphite tips converge at the top as an aggressive cluster, transforming a staple of childhood learning into an instrument of intimidation. Around this cylindrical bundle, a black leather belt exerts a suffocating pressure, tightly fastened by its metal buckle.
The rigid verticality of the bundle contrasts with the sinuous curve described by the loose end of the strap. This black strip unfolds across the base with an almost organic ease, evoking the tail of a scorpion or the whip's flexible trace after impact. The geometric regularity of the carved wood, varnished in mustard yellow, is disrupted by the roughness of the perforated leather, establishing a taut dialogue between containment and release. The intimate scale of the object intensifies its symbolic weight, requiring no monumentality to trigger resonances of domestic and institutional punishment.
In this material confrontation, the pencils lose their communicative function to become a collective body under duress, or perhaps an improvised bludgeon. The belt, historically associated with corporal discipline within the home, acts simultaneously as a binding force and an instrument of subjugation. The title lays bare a social wound where schooling and physical violence entwine in a deeply disturbing manner. The piece leaves unresolved a question regarding the nature of the aggression: whether the force originates from the external restraint that constricts, or whether the true danger emanates from the cluster of points preparing to wound in self-defense.
More works by Alexander Chaves
33 works
Available works
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- Verdad o castigoInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2014
- Educación EspecialInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2014
- Escuela 3Inquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
- Escuela 2Inquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
- BultoInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
- ProfesorInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
- Entre más aprendoInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2013
- ColumpioInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
- MoloteInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
- Old SchoolInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
- El marco de la ObraInquire about availabilityAlexander Chaves · 2015
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