Costa Rican Artist Reflects on San José's Layers of Time and Memory

SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA / ACCESSWIRE / November 25, 2024 / https://miramefineart.com/ivannia-lasso-urban-decay-san-jose/ MÍRAME celebrates the work of Ivannia Lasso, whose examination of urban decay in San José engages with the textures and histories embedded in the city's surfaces. Focusing on the worn, forgotten, and abandoned, Lasso's work creates a direct dialogue with the urban landscape, revealing the passage of time and the traces of human presence.

A Connection to Place
Born in 1984, Lasso works across various media, including painting, assembly, and installation. Her practice is rooted in the streets of San José, where she collects discarded materials-primarily wood-from neglected areas. These found objects, often overlooked or discarded, retain the marks of age, weathering, and use. Lasso preserves these traces, allowing the imperfections of the materials to tell stories of the spaces they come from.

Introducing Crowded Spaces: Confronting Inequality
Lasso's latest body of work, Crowded Spaces, addresses the theme of social and economic inequality in overcrowded and neglected urban areas. Through her use of found objects and reclaimed wood-often discarded in marginalized communities-she creates compositions that reflect the difficult living conditions in Latin America's informal housing sectors.

Each piece in Crowded Spaces highlights the harsh reality of housing disparity and social exclusion. By choosing reclaimed materials, Lasso underscores their disregard by society, while the raw, chaotic format of the works reflects the harsh conditions of overcrowded living spaces and the resilience of those who inhabit them.

Presenting at the Spanish Cultural Center and CROMA Biennial
In recent exhibitions, including at the Spanish Cultural Center of Costa Rica and the CROMA Biennial at the Eszacu Country Club, Lasso's work has attracted attention for its exploration of urban surfaces and the stories they tell. At the Spanish Cultural Center, she exhibited a large-scale composition made from vertical slats of wood in varying colors. Similarly, at the CROMA Biennial, Lasso's signature style of leaving the edges of her wooden elements raw and unrefined captivated viewers.

An International Profile
Lasso's work has been showcased internationally, in locations such as Portugal, New York, and El Salvador. In 2021, she was selected for an internship with the Panama Fem Art Coalition, furthering her engagement with feminist perspectives in contemporary art. Her growing recognition, both locally and internationally, positions her as a key voice in the ongoing conversation about urbanism, memory, and space in Latin America.

A Conversation with the City
At the heart of Lasso's work is a rethinking of how we experience and value urban spaces. By transforming discarded objects into meaningful compositions, she invites the viewer to consider the hidden stories told by the worn and weathered surfaces of cities. Lasso's work highlights the often-overlooked narratives that shape our urban environments.

MÍRAME Fine Art is excited to represent Ivannia Lasso and looks forward to future opportunities to support her impactful work.