Mondongo: Calavera 8

Track 16 presents Mondongo’s Calavera 8, which is one of twelve works from the Calaveras series made between 2009 and 2013 by the Argentine art collective Mondongo. The work is plasticine on wood, 78.75 x 78.75 x 15.75 inches. When viewed from a distance, the work reads as a skull. Upon closer examination the high relief skull contains anthropological sites of global scale with a tableau revealing figures that weave in a multitude of meanings. Through mythology and satire the work takes the classical theme of art history and reflects on the temporality of the human race through collaged plasticine imagery.

Mondongo is an art collective that formed in 1999. The Buenos-Aires-based duo, Juliana Laffitte and Manuel Mendanha, create sculptural paintings and ephemeral tableau performances. Currently at Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina is Mondongo’s exhibition Manifestación. Recent exhibitions include Welcome, BARRO, New York, United States, 2023; Argentina, Museo MAR, Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2021; Conejos blancos, BARRO, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Inédita, BARRO, Buenos Aires, Argentina. LOL!, Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), Houston, United States, 2020. Mondongo has mounted multiple exhibitions at Track 16 Gallery since 2007.