Cortez 1991

Jimmie Durham's assembled this strange sculpture, ‘Cortez’, using metal pipes, mannequin parts, and found objects. I imagine him in his studio, puzzling over these disparate materials, letting them speak to each other. He must've been thinking about history, about conquest. The face is so smooth and idealized, almost mocking the violence of the past, while the rough, industrial pipes evoke machinery and power. Then that one disembodied arm dangling… it’s so melancholic, isn’t it? It reminds me of outsider artists who create these deeply personal, symbolic worlds. There’s something vulnerable about the exposed mechanics, the precarious balance of the whole thing. Durham's work reminds us that art is always in conversation with what’s come before. This piece isn’t about fixed meanings, but a space for reflection, an ongoing dialogue about how we see and understand the world.