| El Paquete was the premiere solo exhibition of new work by the New York-based, Mexican artist Ana de la Cueva at Jane Kim/Thrust Projects this past November. The exhibition was a journey into de la Cueva’s past, and explored male and female sexuality through the lens of her life. In her anthropological exploration, the artist tracked down ex-lovers, male friends, and men in her family and photographed them in their underwear. The photographs were printed on boxes identical to those of underwear packaging. As a new and unique form of portraiture, El Paquete was a wry commentary on things disposable and simultaneously intimate. |  |
Jane Kim/Thrust Projects
El Paquete was the premiere solo exhibition of new work by the New York-based, Mexican artist Ana de la Cueva at Jane Kim/Thrust Projects this past November. The exhibition was a journey into de la Cueva’s past, and explored male and female sexuality through the lens of her life. In her anthropological exploration, the artist tracked down ex-lovers, male friends, and men in her family and photographed them in their underwear. The photographs were printed on boxes identical to those of underwear packaging. As a new and unique form of portraiture, El Paquete was a wry commentary on things disposable and simultaneously intimate.
In her own words, de la Cueva appropriated the format of the product’s description found on commercial underwear boxes to give us small hints about the men and their relationship to her. She sent a series of questions to each man inquiring on their fetishes, life mottos, and favorite positions (“postura” in her native Spanish can mean “position,” as in one’s mantra in life, or doubly, his preferred sexual position). Ana de la Cueva, who has previously used embroidery, painting, collage, and video to explore identity in her work, continued this theme in El Paquete. De la Cueva’s work is a subtle and subversive critique on the nature of relationships set against the backdrop of our consumer society.
