José Luis Torres assembled a site-specific gallery installation using locally found and recycled construction materials. Created by elaborating on do-it-yourself constructions, referencing precarious architecture and the notion that life is a game of survival, Torres’ projects are a mixture of sculpture and organic architecture functioning on intuition. Torres went out into the community looking for cardboard, a throw-away material he quickly associated with Kelowna. Inside of the gallery, he assembled and mounted floor-to-ceiling cardboard constructions. Though made from geometric boxes and containers, the works became organic shapes, not unlike foliage or trees. As an improvised installation, the boxes formed a spontaneous architecture inspired by the banal status of cardboard as a material. Two large forms consumed corners of the gallery, with a third form amassed on the floor. The sculptures engaged with the audience’s navigation of space, forcing alternative pathways.
José Luis Torres was born in Argentina and has a Bachelor's Degree in Visual Arts, a Master's Degree in Sculpture and training in architecture and integrating art with architecture. He has been living and working in Quebec since 2003.
For more information about Torres’ work, please visit his website.