PORTO ALEGRE.- The Iberê Camargo Foundation is dedicating a major solo exhibition to Marco Maggi, unfolding across all levels of the institution and engaging in a dialogue with the iconic building designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira.
Curated by Patricia Betancur, The Economy of Attention is a reflection on the ways in which attention is constructed and directed. Maggi’s works form a visual system of minimal, almost imperceptible structures. They feature micro cuts in paper, and incisions on acrylic or graphite, which only seem to exist thanks to intangible light and shadow.
In his proposals, both the exhibition titles and those of his works usually conceal a meta-meaning. The ambiguity of the title of this installation is not a lack of clarity but a critical tool situated on a threshold of deliberate meaning. On one hand, it evokes circulation, management, and the exchange of a scarce resource (economy); on the other, perception, sensitivity, and the capacity to focus (attention). The experience of the exhibition unfolds in the intermediate terrain between these two poles. It does not designate univocally but opens a field of tensions that each visitor must negotiate along their path.
Born in 1957 in Montevideo, Uruguay, Marco Maggi lives between New York and Punta del Este.
The artist gained international recognition by creating abstract, highly detailed drawings using common materials such as paper, plexiglass, aluminum foil, pencils, and a sharp blade.
The artist unfurls a topographic map of details linked to everyday life, privileging the micro over the macro, and urges us to come closer to his meticulous objects.
Marco Maggi represented Uruguay at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.
His works are part of the collections of major international institutions such as MoMA, Whitney Museum, Drawing Center (New York), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington DC), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Daros Foundation (Zürich, Switzerland), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (San Francisco, USA), among others.
