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Guatemalan-born sculptor Darío Escobar (b. 1971) is a contemporary artist of the kind of aesthetic object that also doubles as a revealing critique of globalization. Since the late 1990s he has mobilized armies of everyday industrial and consumer products—McDonald’s cups, cereal boxes, vulcanized rubber, car bumpers and sports equipment of various types—in order to construct an ongoing dialogue with the reality of global consumerism. That dialogue, invariably, has also incorporated an extensive conversation with object making across the ages. Over the last two decades, Escobar’s art has gained a critical place among contemporary creators—not just in Latin America, but also around the world.
The Life of the Object: The Art of Darío Escobar covers two decades of this singular artist’s work, while highlighting profound insights into the nature of found objects, commodity culture, and contemporary art’s increasing identification with the myths and realities of globalization. Edited by Christian Viveros-Fauné, the book includes insightful essays by R. C. Baker, Laura A. L. Wellen, and Octavio Zaya. The volume also includes a visual essay especially created by the artist that illustrates some of Escobar’s more important recent sculptures and installations.
