At first glance, the art series New York City Roadkill – 2006 could be about recycling consumer waste. The compositions consist of images of flattened containers; coffee cups, water bottles, beer and soda cans. We identify the brand by label color and familiar graphic text.
The artist Cesar Llamas is inviting the viewer to look beyond mere identification, to explore the shiny, twisted metal, to muse upon color plastics, dirty glass and wrinkled cardboard.
This series communicates many ideas about consumption and consumerism, usefulness and waste, form and chaos. Regarding the subject matter, there is a connection to consumerism.These are bottles, cans and containers that were used and discarded on the street.
The artist, Cesar Llamas while going about his routines along the streets and sidewalks of NYC reclaims containers from the streets, sometimes taking risks to catch a particularly interesting one. [He picks up containers that have been flattened by traffic.]
He will take it back to his studio, study it, and compose. The arrangement is then
transferred to a canvas paper or canvas board. Cesar experiments with focus, lighting, and colors to add special interest to each piece. He interacts with the images also by adding touches of paint or oil pastels.
The technical process Cesar uses to create the hundreds of images in this series [New York City Roadkill – 2006] results in a direct image transfer. Real life details are kept intact. Nothing is lost in the transference.You can still experience the energy of the containers themselves.
In one composition, we have a single image of a can of Segrams gingerale, crushed flat, with a straw poking out of the top. You might first notice all the wrinkled ridges on the surface of the metal. And then you might notice the colors; shiny, metallic green, yellow-gold, silver, red. Shimmering and beautiful , long after the party is over, or was it just lunch?
In another composition, we have an image of a flattened, big apple coffee cup beside a squashed can of Budlight beer. Somehow the top of the can is visible and appears unopened. These two objects appear to be engaged in a silent conversation.
Some compositions include three dimensional paints and colors. Some images are darkened. Some images have ghostly imagery. Each one vibrates with its own energy and story.
Cesar Llamas is a native born artist of the Phillipines. He has been collecting things and making compositions since he was a young boy. Today Cesar makes art in a variety of spaces and studios in and around New York City.
With this series, New York City Roadkill – 2006, Cesar Llamas is lovingly giving a new life and meaning to that which has been discarded and forgotten. These containers, dirty, dented, crushed, have beautiful stories to tell…
- B.Merry Geng
- Oct. 28, 2006
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