JAVIER ARCE
Santander, Spain, 1973

Serie estrujados (Struth), 2007
Marker on unbreakable paper
220 x 340 cm
Gift of the artist 2008

Between 1935 and 1940, Marcel Duchamp created his famous Boîte-en-valise (Box in a Suitcase), which contained miniatures of all the work he had produced up until then, taking his cue from the box of samples carried by any traveling salesman. Javier Arce’s Estrujados (Crumpled) series of works consists of a selection of replicas of historical works of art he produced using a special high-tech fabric that resembles paper, but whose physical property enables it to be crumpled and de-crumpled endlessly. For his imaginary museum in cardboard boxes, Arce has selected a number of classical paintings, but also many emblematic contemporary art pieces, produced in the past five decades. Some works are two dimensional, while others are sculptures.

Estrujados (Struth) is particularly interesting, in that the original work it replicates is Louvre 4, one of Thomas Struth’s famous Museums series photographs, in which the German artist depicts visitors looking at masterpieces in some of the world’s most important museums.