YOSHUA OKÓN

Miasma is about espionage and covert operations, it is about what we apparently see versus what lies underneath the surface. It is about the sophisticated, sexy and polished image that consumer culture projects versus its dark and violent underbelly. This work takes as a starting point “La CIA en México”, a book published in 1984 by Mexican journalist Manuel Buendía, who, months after the publication, was assassinated with four shots in the back. Besides citing names and addresses of US covert agents operating in Mexico, Buendía's visionary book also points to the hidden neoliberal agenda behind such infiltration and gives us a great insight into today's crisis. Two full chapters of "La CIA en México" are dedicated to George H.W. Bush, who in the late seventies was the CIA’s director and who, as an oil businessman turned politician, is an emblematic figure of today's sociopolitical paradigm. Miasma includes a series of photo sculptures and a video installation shot at George H.W. Bush monument in Houston, Texas, as well as a series of drawings and lithographs based on the book`s cover. Miasma, "an oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere which surrounds or emanates from something" according to the Oxford dictionary, becomes a metaphor for the shiny illusion of stability that serves as a cover for a destructive system; where, even as it collapses, the image still stands.

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Video Installation: Single channel. One projection or flat screen. Sound. Duration: 10:15 minutes, loop. Dimensions: variable.

Photo Sculpture: Photo prints on MDF on the wall. Dimensions: Variable

Lithographs: Polyptych of 9 lithographs. Dimensions: 28.74 x 20.47 in each.

Polyptych of 9 drawings: Chinese ink and gouache on cotton paper. Dimensions: 14 x 12 inches, each.

Poster campaign: C-print on paper. Dimensions: 23 x 17 in each.

Director’s Portrait Gallery: Series of 9 portraits. Watercolor and ink on cotton paper. Dimensions: 5.70 x 4.33 in each.