The exhibition Détours, Vertiges et Emballements explores the material memory of everyday consumer objects and their narrative potential. By repurposing molded paper pulp containers from the packaging and fast-food industries, Boris Pintado grants them a new presence, questioning their status at the boundary between waste and artifact. Far from being mere remnants of our productivist society, these materials become the starting point for a reflection on value, trace, and the memory of forms.
Each piece results from a process of diversion, where contemporary archaeology intersects with sculptural fiction. Through assembly, compression, and the application of color, Pintado transforms these ephemeral objects into ambiguous fragments: are they vestiges of a dystopian future or relics of a forgotten culture? This tension between memory and projection challenges our relationship with objects and the value systems that govern them.
The artist also explores the connections between space, architecture, and environment by reintegrating these forms into a cycle of transformation. His approach oscillates between gravity and irony, between formal rigor and expressive spontaneity. The exhibition evokes multiple references: from geometric abstraction to anthropomorphic figures, from sculptural minimalism to the temple as a space of sacralization.
Composed of recycled materials, the exhibition unsettles our certainties, creating a tension between the sacred and the trivial, permanence and obsolescence. It presents works that synthesize two years of research and experimentation. The monumental centerpiece, created in situ, takes full advantage of the gallery’s impressive ceiling height.
The project plays on the ambivalence of its title: it references both packaging as an object and the artist’s states of mind, caught between moments of doubt and creative impulses.
PRICELESS
PRICELESS is a variation of the project Détours, Vertiges et Emballements focusing on the notion of value through the geometry of the cube. This elemental shape, a symbol of stability and power, becomes the receptacle of a tension between humble materiality and the symbolism of price.
Through compression, assembly, and the solidification of discarded materials, Boris Pintado creates minimal structures where matter appears both constrained and elevated. These volumes echo the archetypes of modern sculpture while bearing the marks of recovery and assemblage processes.
The title PRICELESS plays on the ambiguity of the term: does it refer to something worthless or, on the contrary, invaluable? This series challenges the mechanisms of artistic legitimization and the hierarchy of materials, questioning what grants an object its status as a work of art.
Through these cubes, the artist offers a critical reflection on the art market and the ways we assign value to things.
