Untitled

In the work of Santiago Cárdenas, mundane objects find new, unexpected meaning. Playing with the viewer’s perception, his works recuperate the technique of "trompe-l’oeil"—optical illusion—in their depiction of common objects. In this untitled serigraph, a cut-off piece of electrical cord appears abandoned atop a teared-off, squared sheet of brown paper. Through the illusion of spatial depth, enhanced by a detailed depiction of the cord’s shadows, Cárdenas is able to transfigure ordinary materials into a conceptual still life. In this way, Cárdenas infuses new meaning into everyday objects, stripping them of their functional value and elevating them to the category of art. Cárdenas is widely known as an exponent of hyperrealism. Yet his approach to objects also reveals the influence of Pop art, to which he was exposed during his years at Yale University as an art student.

This text was created in collaboration with the University of Maryland Department of Art History & Archaeology and written by Patricia Ortega-Miranda.