Edgar Arceneaux: Shards

In the organizer's words:

The exhibition Shards at 68projects, presented as part of Berlin Art Week 2025, focuses on a central group of works by the American artist Edgar Arceneaux (*1972, Los Angeles). A performance by the artist will also take place on the opening evening. This is Arceneaux's first presentation at the gallery.

At the center of the exhibition are Arceneaux's so-called "skinned mirrors", a series of works that combine raw materiality with existential reflection. The works are created in a radical process: Arceneaux removes the reflective metal layer from used mirrors and transfers it to untreated canvas. The result is not a clean imprint, but a fragile, unstable surface, riddled with cracks, distortions and chemical reactions. The original mirror, traditionally an object of self-perception, is dismantled, robbed of its function and transformed into something raw and unclear. Broken glass plates leave ghostly traces, the surfaces alternate between shimmering silver, oxidized copper, poisonous green and sooty black. The result is the impression of organic remains, somewhere between beauty and horror. Arceneaux compares the process to the skinning of an animal. The "chemical entrails" of the mirror are exposed. The canvases take on a physical, uncanny presence, reminiscent of holy relics as well as the remains of a post-industrial autopsy. They hang like shrouds and bear the imprint of an image that is no longer alive. The artist poses a central question: what remains of the self when the mirror no longer reflects? The mirror, as an extension of human perception and an instrument of self-assurance, loses its clarity and becomes uncertain, unstable matter. The Berlin presentation focuses on works dominated by shades of blue, red and violet. Colors that are associated with blood, power, dignity and vulnerability. The new works, developed especially for the exhibition, deal directly with political and social ruptures, particularly in the USA. Arceneaux refers to the practice of the US authority ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), which arrests people, deports them or makes them disappear, as well as to the ongoing reality of racially motivated police violence.

These issues also resonate in Berlin - and have an impact worldwide. In this site-specific dialog, Arceneaux creates a counterpoint between his artistic practice and questions of identity, power and visibility in urban space.