Homage to Pollock 2014

Curator: Looking at Lorenzo Belenguer’s 2014 piece, “Homage to Pollock,” one is immediately struck by its materiality. It’s an assemblage constructed of metal—specifically, mattress springs. What's your first take on it? Editor: There is a definite feeling of transience; an almost melancholic undertone conveyed through this mundane object repurposed. A stark contrast between the implied domesticity of a mattress and its fragmented presentation. Curator: Right, Belenguer is clearly engaging in a dialogue with the readymade, reminiscent of Duchamp, but pushing further. The title, of course, signals a more specific art-historical context. Editor: “Homage to Pollock”— how so? It’s clearly abstract and uses the gesture of line to construct something bigger, and that aligns conceptually. I guess the all-over composition feels like it captures that Pollock sensibility too. Curator: Exactly. The repetitive nature of the springs hints at mass production, commenting perhaps on the commodification of comfort, domesticity. But it is that Pollock reference that draws us to the intersection of art and society and those socio-political tensions there. Editor: True. Consider Pollock’s drip paintings being created during the Cold War. His process and mark-making was considered to exemplify the spirit of freedom and individualism; a stance against totalitarianism in other parts of the world. Curator: Precisely. Belenguer presents the spring, literally supportive in architecture of the everyday, almost as ruins. His work reflects our modern dispossession, inviting critique about structures—even those of abstract expressionism. It’s an examination of the stories we create as people that reflect our ideologies. Editor: In considering its aesthetic, I feel that it manages to prompt contemplation and, maybe, invite a feeling of subtle unrest within such a seemingly mundane and rigid configuration. Curator: Indeed. A thoughtful intersection of the personal, the artistic, and the political—reminding us that these things cannot exist in a vacuum. Editor: I agree. A simple piece with some rather complex conversations happening beneath the surface, I like that very much.