Andrew Roberts (b. 1995, Tijuana) has built his practice across gameplay, roleplay and worldbuilding, creating multi-platform narratives that materialize through digital animations, objects and poetry. Mining the history of monsters and the material dimension of horror, he is primarily concerned with representation systems, death as a form of labor and the haunting relationship between Mexico and the United States of America.
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Protean Silicone Matter2023
Protean Silicone Matter
Pequod Co., Art Basel Miami Beach
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Haunted Silicone Matter
Pequod Co., Art Basel Miami Beach
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Tank2023
Tank
Pequod Co., Mexico City
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Necromancer2022
Necromancer (Vanitas)
House of Chappaz, Barcelona
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Necromancer (Mining Mana)
House of Chappaz, Valencia
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A hourse on fire is a ghost, a factory on fire is a specter2022
A house on fire is a ghost, a factory on fire is a specter
Best Practice, San Diego
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The Harvest2021
The Harvest (Pilot Episode)
Collaboration with Mauricio Muñoz
Delaplane, San Francisco
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The Harvest
Collaboration with Mauricio Muñoz
Delaplane, San Francisco
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We are sorry to notify you that due to the end of the world...2020
La Horda (The Horde)
Pequod Co., Mexico City
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CARGO
Pequod Co., Mexico City
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Undead
Pequod Co., Mexico City
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Isla, dinos tu nombre (Island, tell us your name)2019
Isla, dinos tu nombre
Roca, Isla, Glaciar, Museo Jumex, Mexico City
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Towards Electromateriality2018
Towards Electromateriality
Ficción y tiempo, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco
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Towards Electromateriality
Ficción y tiempo, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco
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Sunrise Corporation2017
Brief History of the Sun
Centro Cultural Tijuana
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The Complex
Centro Cultural Tijuana
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Sunrise Corporation Headquarters
Centro Cultural Tijuana
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Sunrise CorporationCentro Cultural Tijuana
07/21/2017 — 01/21/2018
Sunrise Corporation, 2017, installation view at Centro Cultural Tijuana
Brief History of the Sun, 2017, 4K CGI video, color, sound, 4:10 min.; digital prints, bean bags, headphones and electric extension cord, variable dimensions
Excerpt from Brief History of the Sun, 2017, 4K CGI video, color, sound, 4:10 min.
Brief History of the Sun, 2017, installation view at the San Diego Art Institute
From the sensibility of the contemporary artist any human experience is susceptible to being transformed into a work of art. Therefore, an experience as vulgar as the exchange of goods is not exempt from being work material for an image producer. The work of Andrew Roberts (b. 1995, Tijuana) has been articulated from a delicate field of action, which makes it possible to distinguish the exploitation implicit in the relations of production of a society founded on the commodification of all areas of human life. This aesthetic method could be called as a critique towards the political economy of the senses, and consists of a critical look at the operation of the capitalist system.
For his exhibition at CECUT (Centro Cultural Tijuana), artist Andrew Roberts presents a dystopian history of science fiction that starts from a postapocalyptic assumption. Sunrise Corporation is a company that sells sunrises; since in a not too distant future —mediated by screens, algorithms and super stars— sunrises will be privatized and the only way to see how the day starts will be through this company. The most basic and elementary visual entertainment of humanity will no longer be possible, unless you pay for it.
Art has been selling sunrises for years. It is important to remember that what we know as modern art begins symbolically with a sunrise, "Impression, Sunrise" (1872) by the impressionist painter Claude Monet. Monet's painting, if we see it with a capitalist lens, is a successful attempt to privatize a sunrise. One of the questions asked by Sunrise Corporation is, what is our relationship with landscape in a society historically founded on private property.
In Sunrise Corporation, Roberts parodies the friendly branding of contemporary capitalism —specifically that of socially responsible companies— in a stimulating installation that mimics the design of a corporate lobby. The perversity of the company is present in the banners, furniture and propaganda videos, as Sunrise Corporation promotes an exorbitant obscenity: the intellectual appropriation and privatization of the largest galactic waste - and which has been characterized as the reason for the most famous moments of human unproductivity — sunlight.
Text by Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba
Sunrise Corporation, 2017, installation view at the Centro Cultural Tijuana
The Complex (Alpha version), 2017, Two-channel 4K CGI video, color, sound, 5:44 min.; digital prints on walls and elevators, headphones and electric extension cords, variable dimensions
Excerpt from The Complex (Beta version), 2018, Two-channel 4K CGI video, color, sound, 5:00 min.
The Complex (Beta version), 2018, Two-channel 4K CGI video, color, sound, 5:00 min.; digital prints, variable dimensions, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Sunrise Corporation, 2017, installation view at the Centro Cultural Tijuana
How to sell the sun, 2017, three-channel 4K CGI video, color, sound, looped
How to sell the sun, 2017, three-channel 4K CGI video, color, sound, looped
..Sunrise Corporation, 2017, installation view at the Centro Cultural Tijuana