Susana Torres - Photographs London Friday, October 25, 2019 | Phillips

Photographs

London Auction 25 October 2019

  • Exhibited

    América Latina, 1960-2013, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, 19 November 2013 – 6 April 2014; Museo Amparo, Puebla, 24 May 2014 – 29 September 2014, another

  • Literature

    A. Alonso, América Latina, 1960-2013, Photographies, Paris: Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, 2013, pp. 298-299

  • Catalogue Essay

    Susana Torres explores themes of Peruvian identity, as well as gender stereotypes through her diverse artistic practice. She began her career as a self-taught photographer, having studied Art History at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima. As a founding member of the collective Sociedad Civil, she actively opposed the authoritarian regime and struggled for the re-establishment of democracy in Peru. Torres teaches art at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas and her work has been included in the 6th Havana Biennial, the frst two Lima Biennials and the 2009 Trienal de Chile.

    Peruvian Inca-brand cigarettes, tinned fish, a guide book and a favoured soft drink are a few of the everyday items Susana Torres transforms into works of art. Exquisitely depicted across a full range of monochromatic tones, each object is brought into its own sculptural form. In the branding of popular consumer items, the ancestral heritage of the Inca Empire – a point of national identity and pride – is commonly referenced as seen in Torres’s chosen objects. In re-contextualising the familiar, the artist invites the viewer to contemplate the relationship between consumerism and the Inca culture that is unique to Peruvian society. ‘The Inca is not only the embalmed mummy in the sheltered treasure chamber, sometimes called a museum,’ Torres notes. ‘The Inca is also outside, in all forms and colours, packaged in millions of disposable containers to be bought and sold.’

  • Artist Biography

    Susana Torres

    Peruvian • 1969

    Susana Torres explores themes of Peruvian identity, as well as gender stereotypes through her diverse artistic practice. She began her career as a self-taught photographer, having studied Art History at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima. As a founding member of the collective Sociedad Civil, she actively opposed the authoritarian regime and struggled for the re-establishment of democracy in Peru. Torres teaches art at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas and her work has been included in the 6th Havana Biennial, the first two Lima Biennials and the 2009 Trienal de Chile.

    View More Works

LATIN AMERICA

56

Susana Torres

Catorce Inkas [Fourteen Inkas] from Museo Neo-Inka

1999
14 gelatin silver prints, printed later.
Each image: 42 x 28 cm (16 1/2 x 11 in.)
Each initialled and numbered 2/7 in pencil on the verso.

Estimate
£15,000 - 25,000 

Sold for £15,000

Contact Specialist
Genevieve Janvrin
Co-Head of Photographs, Europe
Yuka Yamaji
Co-Head of Photographs, Europe

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+44 20 7318 4092

Photographs

London Auction 25 October 2019