The genesis of Alex Villar's work was inspired by Krysztof Wodiczko's words on his own work: "[it] is to do with the politics of space and the ideology of architecture." Villar's intention is to question "neutral" spaces in the streets of New York, using a silent narrative between his body and the structural space or object as a way to complete or redefine its plethoric eloquence. This is an urban performance, conceptualization of the sculptural object, or even a social claiming of architectural redundancy, all caught by the chronometrical shot of the camera in an action underlining the rhetoric of functionality of these objects

and spaces. Almost unseen for their simplistic and unattractive appearance, they are loaded with an intrinsic authoritarian content. The placement of the artist's body in contact with public objects and space, raises several social questions: Who do these objects and spaces belong to? What and whom do they represent? And much more. Villar has been inspired by artists such as Matthew Barney, with his video work about impossible space, Chris Burden's masochistic and dramatic depictions, Gabriel Orozco's island within an island, Tony Oursler's mummy projections, and

even Charles Ray, who also used the body as sculptural object. Alex Villar's work combines sculpture, performance and photography, articulating each process separately and as a whole, including various degrees of interrelation between the mediums. The result is very forceful as a sculptural object, particularly because of the choice of positions held by the artist as a continuation of the object, not only as a reference to the architectural piece's weight and inertia, but also as a metaphor for its stillness of the moment in space. However, this half-human, half-public object sculpture, triggers a more

elucidating depiction of public property, of impending authority, with or without public consensus or consent. As a performance, the work presents a social, psychological and conceptual narrative with the viewer, not only on an individual basis, and in its more generic aspect, but also as a symbolic presence of the collective concept of public. As the public participates in the acknowledging of the object of art, the public also participates in the making of it, since the social aspect is part of the concept exercised here. Therefore, art object and public reality undergo an interdependent experience.

At this point, photography documents the work, subjecting the process and its parts and mediums to a simplified dimension of time-space, surviving the final image. Although each part of the process has an important and individual message to the whole piece, the parts are much more effective together as process, with none prevailing over the other. In "Untitled" (fire alarm), from 1996, Villar makes a comparison of the theoretical premises of the works, not distinguishing the way in which each one

operates. This work is almost a complete abandonment to the sculptural object, overlapping in its performance state, enhancing the theatricality, and the denial of it, the public awareness and its negation. In "Untitled" (girder), from 1996, there is an overt sculptural preoccupation, revealing its humorous aspect. Villar's primary concern is to deconstruct the function of the objects, while enhancing their psychological concern. As the movements of his body become completely constrained inside the object or space, the artist becomes aware of his

feelings of desperation and hopelessness upsurging, disableling him from separating creation, concept and human experience. Although heard in this ambiguous language, one can detect a Brechtian sense of humor, a dry allegory of the absurd, narrowing the presence of the social as a tragicomic reality. In "Untitled" (pole), from 1996, Villar's body becomes the continuation of a pole creating an unexpected emotional state. There is an impulse to reflect upon form, to accept the body's gravitational parallels, to succumb to the heavy iron object. The body is an impending form

pulled towards another form only to find experience. On one edge stands the iron structure itself, restraining, with its presence inculcating an almost unconscious fear, while contrasting on the other edge, the flexible human form. In "Untitled" (hydrant), from 1996, a simple embrace of the artist's body and the object has created a state of compliance with the structure, revealing the body's flexible and animated expression in relation to the inanimate force of the object. In "Artist's Book," from 1996, the artist

presents a book with images dealing with the semiotics of public objects and sites, and their psycho-social relationship of the body. "The book itself, rather than simply presenting the images, recreates the tension that takes place in the images. The sand paper was set facing the images, so that browsing through the book will gradually wear the images out. Therefore, the coarse texture of the experience of the body in relation to the mentioned object unfolds both as physical indexes on the book and tactile memory." Villar's work is provocative and refreshing, acting as a catalyst of a contemporary scenario, rediscovering his presence in space as a transitional and redefining state.