Marco Godoy, Daniel de Paula: rest against, against rest
29 November 2024 - 22 February 2025
Having met on a residency deep in the Bolivian rainforest, Marco Godoy and Daniel de Paula have been
speaking ever since. While their contexts differ, both share a long-standing interest in the dynamics,
structures and theatrics of economics and power.
In his most recent work Godoy has tuned a conceptual practice into a figurative sculptural outcome, and de
Paula has begun to make paintings alongside the sculptural practice he is known for. Presenting only a single
word and its alternate shadow rendered in a paint mixed with cognitive-enhancing drugs, these innocent little
paintings are enough to send trained dogs into a frenzy, appealing to the limits of our senses and the labour
expectations exerted on us. Trade and the intangible are born out in another even subtler work, dispossession,
where the artist proposes to commodify the shadow of the gallery's founder.
Meanwhile Godoy has shifted from erasing coins and manipulating fences to a more allegorical form of
expression. His recent works depict figures engaged in intimate gestures, exploring the ways in which individuals
relate to each other through a language not rooted in ideology, but in touch and empathy. These bodies are
juxtaposed with replicas of humanity's earliest lithic tools, signalling a return to the origins of power structures in
his ongoing research. This exploration does not merely trace back to the Greco-Roman classicism that informs
much of the visual language of modern power and the white body. Godoy looks further to the very dawn of
human civilisation and the "first arms race”, linking us to our ancestors, those who first shaped tools out of flint
— the first blade, the first spear, the first means of gaining an advantage over others.
De Paula also brings new developments in his sculptural practice, combining the likes of under-sea data cables
with the literal power of lightning strikes frozen in time in Fulgurites. As Godoy considers the direct human
relations of power and communication, here de Paula takes us into contact with some of the most technical,
dehumanised, but ultimately human-made means by which communication continues now at a fraction of the
time. These technological advancements are the contemporary equivalent of sharpening the edge of a flint.
Marco Godoy
Godoy (b. 1986, lives and works in Madrid, Spain) studied Fine Arts at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid
(UCM) and the School of the Art, Institute of Chicago. He holds an MA in Photography from the Royal College of
Art (2014). His work is held in the collections of La Panera Art Centre in Lleida; CA2M; the Spanish Ministry of
Health, Social Services and Equality; Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch; Hamaca; DKV Collection and MAC
Collection (Chile).
Godoy's work has been exhibited at institutions internationally including: Mac Quinta Normal Museum, Santiago
de Chile; Kunsthalle Weißensee Kreativstadt, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands;
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London; Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art, Texas; Palais de Tokyo,
Paris; Centro Cultural de Mexico, Mexico; Stravos Niarchos Foundation, Athens; Centre Georges Pompidou,
Paris; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; Fundaciòn Sandretto, Madrid.
Daniel de Paula
De Paula (b. 1987) studied Fine Art at the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP), attended the School of
Astrophysics of São Paulo, and also took part of the post-graduate program in Human Geography at the University
of São Paulo.
De Paula’s work has been included in recent institutional exhibitions and projects at the Luleå Biennale, Sweden;
Lyon Biennale, France; São Paulo Bienal, Brazil; Renaissance Society, USA; Kunsthal Gent, Belgium; Arts Club of
Chicago, USA; Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Italy; MASP, Brazil; De Pont Museum, Netherlands; Centro
Cultural São Paulo, Brazil; Rozenstraat – a rose is a rose is a rose, Netherlands; Estação Pinacoteca, Brazil; Video
Sound Art Festival, Italy; Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Brazil. He has participated in artistic residency programs such as
the Jan van Eyck Academie, Netherlands; FLACC, Belgium; Cité Internationale des Arts, France; Red Bull Station,
Brazil; Kiosko, Bolivia.
With thanks to The Chapter of Southwark Cathedral for its generous support.