Adrián Villar Rojas,
2017

"The Argentinean artist Adrián Villar Rojas offers his audience a mash-up of the adolescent iconographies that have fascinated him since he was a teenager: that of sci-fi, with its robots and spaceships; that of the postapocalyptic, derived from graphic novels and video games; and that of the prehistoric, with its dinosaurs and primitive tools." -Jens Hoffman, Artforum, 2016

Known for his unique mixture of clay and concrete sculptures that crumble and decay over time, Adrián Villar Rojas's installations draw on the history of Minimalist sculpture and Modernist architecture, creating works that refer back to classical antiquity as well as forward towards a future archaeology. In his 2012 installation for dOCUMENTA (13), Return the World, held in both Kassel, Germany and Kabul, Afghanistan, Villar Rojas created a filmic narrative of post-apocalyptic survival in a public garden. In his 2013 installation for MoMA PS1, La inocencia de los animales ("The Innocence of Animals"), he built a large, amphitheater-like riser indoors as well as several smaller works that appear to be invading the space. The cracked and crumbling surface is reminiscent of Roman ruins and late 20th century earthworks.

Villar Rojas has been exhibiting worldwide for a number of years, including shows at the Venice Biennial (2011) and the Istanbul Biennial (2015). His project for the Roof Garden Commission at the Metropolitan Museum in New York opens on April 14 2017.

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