Art Taaalkssss: Pia Camil

Pia Camil, El Cisne no. 7, 2019, photo: PJ Rountree

Through her work Pia Camil (born in Mexico City, where she lives and works) has shown a proclivity to failure or the decaying associated to the Mexican urban landscape, aspects of modernist culture and traces of art history. Her practice has explored the urban ruin—including paintings and photographs of halted projects along Mexico’s highways; abandoned billboards that become theatre-like curtains therefore theatricalizing failed capitalist strategies, or the problems and contradictions that arise when engaging with iconic art works.  

For Art Taaalkssss, Pia Camil will discuss some recent projects and particularly her interest in the power of collectivity. Two years ago she moved to the Mexican countryside with her partner and kids. It was an important decision that would strongly influence her practice since most of her previous work was related to the city where she was born. Away from Mexico City, she has delved into a broader understanding of collaboration with human and nonhuman entities, while approaching nature as healer, and art as a tool of spiritual practice. 

Pia Camil received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from The Rhode Island School of Design in 2003 and her Master’s of Fine Arts from The Slade School of Fine Art in 2008. Recent solo exhibitions include The little dog laughed at Blum and Poe, Los Angeles; Entrecortinas: abre, jala, corre at OMR Gallery, Mexico City; Espectacular Telón at Sultana Gallery, Paris; and Cuadrado Negro at the Basque museum-center of contemporary art in Spain.