Nicols Lamas

Selection of works
[2012-2017]
Ephemeral conditions
[2017]
Ephemeral conditions
[2017]
Tempus edax rerum
Metal bed frame, elastic rope, lemon.
Dimensions variable.
Still life
Scaold, ceramic vase, motorcycle helmet.
Dimensions variable.
NN
Modied African mask.
Portrait (Michael) Link
Used airbag. Carabiner, dry seaweed.
45 x 35 cm 14 x 5 x 2 cm
Catheter
Ceramic vases, metallic tube, used engine oil, water.
Dimensions variable.
Window
Cracked car windshield, moss.
Dimensions variable.
System of objects 2
IKEA drying rack, bone, used airbag, Primark shirt,
dry seaweed, leopard skin, broken car glass, ring,
necklace, lure, body cream, dry sh, foam, protective
cup, antifreeze.
162 x 72 x 72 cm
Leg
Plastic, leggins.
51 x 18 x 17 cm
Industrial shell
Motorcycle helmet.
33 x 25 x 24 cm
Dead time
Empty ostrich egg
12 x 9 x 9 cm
When the jewel touch the bone (Katrien)
Metal tube, ring.
Membrane
Plastic container, metallic mesh, cloth softener.
43 x 36 x 15 cm
Graft
Aluminum, leopard skin.
Motionless body
Car engine, carpet.
Dimensions variable.
When the jewel touch the bone (Eva)
Metal rube, fake pears.
Gravity
Ceramic vase, door.
Dimensions variable.
When the jewel touch the bone (Irene)
Aluminum fragment, necklace, nose earrings.
Dry skin, warm fur
Fox fur, radiator.
Dimensions variable.
Every object is a temporal space
[2016]
Loss of symmetry
[2016]

Loss of symmetry
Installation with dierent objects.
600 x 500 x 75 cm
Stop motion #1
Plasticine, wood.
44 x 32,5 x 2,8 cm
Topographic mesh
Metallic mesh, paint, tennis ball.
190 x 180 x 48 cm
Erosional processes #1
8 pool balls, 8 stones, wood.
122,5 x 92,5 x 7 cm
Fossil
Running shoe, cement.
11 x 29 x 10 cm
Ways to organize the world
[2016]

Ways to organize the world

Pigment print on ber based archival matte paper.
100 x 80 cm (each)
 Encofrado
The structure of the wild Ceramic vase, cement.
[2016] Dimensions variable.
Tools
Plastic case, animal bones.
5,5 x 56,5 x 33 cm
 Archetype
African mark, fencing mask.
33 x 25 x 20 cm

Syncretism
LED TV screen, voodoo fetish from Benin.
Dimensions variable.
Synthetic marble Petried data
Plastic chopping board. Newspaper.
48 x 34,5 x 2,5 cm 30,5 x 24,5 cm
 Escafandra
Plastic, oyster shells.
28 x 23 x 25 cm

Natural pattern
Carpet, vegetables, fruits.
195 x 135 cm
Between the lines I
Metallic structure, dry shes.
52 x 126 x 4 cm
Dysfunctional links
[2016]

For Dysfunctional links, Nicols Lamas presents a corpus of new

works with multiple interpretations suggested by tenuous shifts.
It may involve an unlikely rapprochement between two objects
unrelated to each other (reference to Lautramont's well-known
meeting) or an action enabling poetic ourishes, such as in the
Parallel Worlds series, where pages from National Geographic
magazine have been torn out by the artist, comparing two photos
in an unprecedented rapprochement. These images, which are
opposite yet complementary forces, evoke a potential story as
well as reection about the Westernized and exotic vision of
other places (cultural and geographical). As the stabilizing
horizon line of the exhibition, this series also 'shows' the
aesthetics of fragments which runs through the artist's work. We
nd this constant in many works, particularly in the broken body
(head, hand, arm, foot) and spread around various parts of the
gallery space, as well as in Ways to organize the world, a board
which combines the methodology of archaeology (which is the
science of comprehension of fragments par excellence) with
instruction leaets supplied by IKEA. His work examines the
illusory longevity of modern industrial products and human
activity, it consists of numerous strata which are superimposed
(one year of empty National Geographic magazines), which
interact combining symbolic and poetic references.
He concerns himself with the work of Man and the marks that we
leave on the planet as well as the mysterious beauty of nature (c.f.
the marvelous creature that is the snail, in Hand. The human Arm is
also a good example of his liking for upsetting the certainty of what
the viewer sees; so this left arm which appears to be a right arm is
completely covered in graphite (white arm that becomes black) and
combines many contradictions (concave/convex; interior/exterior,
plastic/mineral). The concepts of equilibrium (Paroxysm) and a void
(Empty box) are also recurrent like those of the absurd and the
humorous allusion. While horizontality comes from Parallel Worlds,
the verticality comes paradoxically from a slithering animal, whose
shedding skin is crossed by a metal-linked chain (Column). The
backbone of the exhibition, this work is the exact size of the artist
with his arms raised. Measuring and understanding the world,
associating the ephemeral and the lasting, conjuring up the
symbolic and the real; these are all means used by the artist to feed
and solidify his work. Nicolas Lamas creates alternative visions of
reality, drawing inspiration from everyday life, from what he nds
around him (the street, the city, Internet, nature). He appears to be
constantly on the lookout, with his senses alert. His work focuses
more on the development of ideas, his ability to generate new
possibilities rather than on the conclusion or closure of a point of
view. Irrigating new lands, roaming new territories; that is the
dynamic to which he subscribes. Giving shape to conceptual ideas,
consolidating knowledge while remaining wary of it, bringing in
aesthetics as well as politics, questioning the ambiguity of
complementary forces while seeking their point of intersection. Man
has always created a vision of his environment for himself. Lamas
reinforces the instability of this vision and challenges our
certainties.
Parallel worlds
National Geographic magazine.
25,5 x 34,5 (each)
Industrial coral
Bowling ball.
16,5 x 21,5 x 21,5 cm
Arm
Graphite on plastic.
54,5 x 12,5 x 7,5 cm
Column
Snake skin, metal chain.
228,5 x 7 x 3 cm
Paroxysm
Basketball hoop, ceramic vase.
40 x 60,5 x 62 cm
 Opposite forces
Bird cage, billiard balls.
48,5 x 39,5 x 45,5 cm

Empty box
12 National Geographic magazines.
17,3 24,5 x 8 cm
Hand
Plastic, metal, snail.
123,5 x 14 x 21 cm
 An apparent chasm among things
[2016]

Brittle space
Bench vise, seashell, IKEA wall cabinet.
120 x 37 x 50 cm

System of objects 1
IKEA drying rack, shirt, orange, ambient scent, dry meat, fake
jewelry, snake skin, cooper thread, T-shirt, stone, steel
fragment. 162 x 72 x 72 cm
Left & right hemispheres
Primark sneakers, animal skull fragments.
Dimensions variable.
Reversible condition
Turtle shell, anti freezer.
19,5 x 15 x 6 cm
Agreement
IKEA chair structures, ceramic vase.
Dimensions variable.
Space management
IKEA towel rail, ceramic vase.
Dimensions variable.
Instructions (Rational fragments)
Inkjet on cotton paper.
40 x 28 cm (each)
Functional paradox
IKEA waste paper bins.
35 x 27 x 27 cm

Soft matter
Marble dust, plastic
Dimensions variable.
Weltkarte
Sanded Atlas.
Dimensions variable.
Cabinet
IKEA wardrobe frames, UV
print on Plexiglas, marble.
200 x 35 x 136 cm
 Potential remains
[2015]

This project shows a study of the relationships between the physical and
the virtual, the classic and the contemporary by questioning various
models of (re)presentation and documentation in two physically
dierent spaces but complementary in layers of meanings.

On the ground oor we enter a digital scenario with three projections,
that in some cases remind us of the error images on television when
dierent channels synchronize as a result of poor reception. The data of
error was of great importance in putting together these collages made
with images of dierent art works and exhibition spaces found on the
Internet (on sites such as Contemporary Art Daily). Within one
projection we recognize the removal of data to obtain a new visual result
while in the other projection juxtaposed layers of visual documentation
are combined to create a new image.

Lamas chose dierent images of artworks and exhibition views while

surng through virtual space like a aneur. These images were
manipulated and transformed into new works, using digital tools such
Installation view. as Photoshop, and presented in a continual loop referring to the
[Ground oor] overabundance of images that come to us every day. Our experience

with contemporary art nowadays is mainly determined by our
confrontation with artworks and exhibition views on the screen. How
do these images inuence our references and vision of contemporary art
practices?
On the rst oor Lamas has created a constellation composed by various
found objects from the Academy. This time he moved physically like a
aneur through the school collecting objects to be incorporated in a new
system. From this intuitive quest he created a presentation model using
pedestals, Plexiglas and other materials as the fundamental part of the spatial
structure. This all is held together by the relationships between the objects
and the tension to become part of something else. During this process he has
organized, systematized and examined the dierent elements when they
come to stand in relation to each other and how relative are their
functions within a certain context. The objects obtain and simultaneously
create new meanings, references and values established when one moves
further through the space and becomes aware of the mutual relations that
constitute this oor.

Several reproductions in plaster of marble sculptures from classical antiquity

spread over the whole space take an important presence into the installation.
The sculptures once served as ideals of the perfect model of the body but
now these hollow reproductions have a fragile and fragmented presence. The
reproductions of these sculptures make this display archaic and closely
related to a museum presentation. This is reinforced by the architecture of
the space and the conscious choices that Lamas made in arranging the
elements in the exhibition hall. With a closer look at the reproductions of the
sculptures, one notices how the decay of the glorication of the body is
present. Some of them are damaged, fragmented and mutilated, reinforcing
the idea of transformation process within the cycle of things. The
architectural frame and museum presentation give a new aura to the objects
used in the installation, redened them as a part of a connected whole. On
the other hand, some blocks and images of marble patterns also take a
prominent place in the interactions between all these objects derived from
dierent areas of the school. New dialogues with the reproductions of
classical sculptures are created, giving another character and consistency to
the idea of matter.

Installation view
[First oor]
Damnatio memoriae
[2013]

Series of ten inkjet prints on cotton paper.

80 x 65 cm (each)
Dynamic exchange between fragments
[2015]

This project takes the pool game as direct reference to challenge the rules and pursuing spatial relations between objects whose original functions have been
changed trough a specic process. Lamas present a billiard table made in cement and 14 irregular balls molded in clay. The fragility and shape of the balls will
force the players to reconsider the rules and strategies during each match. The clash between the balls will break each other, deforming their own structure
but also the rules and the ways to face new challenges trough the limitations. With deformed balls and more and more fragments of them scattered around
the table, the players must reconsider their stokes and the prediction of their movements as part of the strategy. Mathematical, physical or geometrical
regulations, associated to this game nd new problems into complexity. The deformed balls (and their fragments) that have lost their initial features become
objects within a space, reformulating their dialogue with it and the other objects, creating a new game. The space then becomes in a place for reection, using
the uncertainty and indeterminacy as aspects that shape the physical world through chaos.
Dialogue table #1
[2015]
Without form or particular order
[2015]

For three days, the recreation of a

standard oce, becomes the starting
point for developing this project.
This workspace is used as a scenario
where the elements that comprise it,
take other features and functions
within the limits of this space.
Through dierent actions of
transformation, the objects nd new
structures, creating a dynamic
system of relations without a clear
meaning.

The original organization of space is

subverted by successive exchanges of
form and location. In this way, the
project can be understood as an
exercise where objects, texts and
i m a ge s ge n e r at e c ont i nu ou s
dialogues, redening its nature and
enhancing possibilities in an open
and indenite process in constant
change.

First day
First day [process]
End of the rst day
Second day [process]
End of the second day
Third day [process]
End of the third day
To contain is not to possess
[2015]

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giblepackingcontain
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mitationfakecopyliek
nowledgecaptureima
geobjectsubjectorgani
zationshapebeliefcont
ainerstatepotentiality
contingencyconstruct
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referencenetworkenvi
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 The value of formlessness
[2014]

As if going back to the basic structure of the universe, to a Tohuwabohu of
precarious forms, aberrant shapes, ephemeral [or rather unpredictable,
capricious] compositions all descending from the idea of archetype Nicols
Lamas is walking us through a deconstructed microcosm, where domesticity
and wilderness coexist and eventually merge.
Space is divided, time indenite, and objects once fruits, spaghetti, stones,
bones, or IKEA ready-to-made structures become objects of thought. While
amassed, correlated, they behave as words in a puzzle outcome of knowledge,
calculus, and chance and Lamas is using them to prove that form can be
overwritten, but never fully discharged of its cultural sediment.

A still life is unfolding in the gallery space. Hybrid objects align in a fake
alphabetical order, following an invisible rhythm. Trivial fruits of thesis and
antithesis, nature and culture, decay and manipulation, they ultimately
succumb to the poetics of form and fall into exotic afterlife.
(A) Notes and sketches on IKEA manual.
(C) IKEA basket structure, printed images, marble, foam, clay, fake shell, polished African sculpture,
rubber bands.

(B) IKEA basket, watermelon, supermarket ticket, printed image.

(H) IKEA furniture, printed image, glass, plant, skull crumbs, stone.
(D) IKEA stools, polished African sculpture. (I) Wooden articulated hand, synthetic grease.
(E) IKEA shelf, elastic rope, hooks, mango.
(K) Spaghetti.
(L) IKEA towel rack, deer fur.
(M) Inkjet print on cotton paper, IKEA aluminum frame. (N) IKEA furniture, computer screen glass.
(T) IKEA organizer, elastic cement, orange, printed images.
(W) Human skull.

(Y) Print on fabric (shirt).

(X) IKEA towel rail, stued pheasant.
 Conguraciones
[2014]

What does a sh know about the water

in which he swims all his life?
[2014]

Sixteen modied billiard balls establish new links between them

and other elements in space. To do this, I will scatter a set of
billiard balls [that have been previously polished and deformed
with a sander] throughout the exhibition space, showing, in
some cases, previouscolors and recycled materials.

Sixteen balls set up connections with dierent objects in space.

A glass-folding screen of the size of a professional pool
table turns the game space into a transparent and fragile
presence. A folded blue tablecloth has the same size, but rests
over the edge of the glass structure. The geometric delineation of
four balls connected through a rope determines an area with the
same perimeter as the fabric and glass. Thus, the ocial game
space is represented and perceived in three dierent formal
variations.

The six holes of a pool table nd another materialization within

the exhibition space. A hole in the glass structure, in a plant leaf,
in a metal ring, in a glass of whiskey, in a cardboard tube, and in
a circle drawing on the gallery window correspond to the six
holes in the pool table. All of them keep the same diameter,
negotiating their position in the pool-table-gallery space,
challenging the rules of the game and pursuing spatial relations
between objects whose original functions have been changed.


Each ball resembles the layers of sedimentation in some rocks -
dierent levels of information which provide details about the
nature of matter. Some of them have the appearance of gems,
stones, or bones eroded by time and environment. In other cases,
they appear as geometric syntheses used in mathematical studies
of some mineral forms. Nevertheless, they remain ludic and
ambiguous. This ambiguity or diculty in identifying them as
billiard balls is important, as the association with the game
shouldnt be immediate.

Once recognized, the balls make you think about the idea of
movement in a match, about the implicit geometry of each
stroke, or about the need for a strategy able to predict the path of
the balls within a space. Based on this idea, I want to raise a
constellation of deformed balls in the space of the gallery and
consequently investigate how these new shapes preclude the
prediction about motion or linear trajectory. None of them can
roll or follow a well-dened path. These balls that have lost their
initial features become objects within a space, reformulating their
dialogue with it,.
Polished billiard balls, sheet glass, fabric, plant, string, cardboard, metal, whiskey glass, marker pen.
Dimensions variable.
Homo ludens
[2014]

Setup I
Wood chessboard and ball made with sawdust of all the chess pieces.
40,5 x 40,5 x 9 cm
Billiard balls
16 polished phenolic balls.
Dimensions variable.
 Line
Basketball.
45 cm

Dice
Inkjet print on cotton paper.
51 x 70 cm
Reference points
[2013]

Exploring dierent scientic elds such as astronomy or These shifts are an important part of the work process that Lamas develops, who sets up the
physics, Nicols Lamas formalizes his questioning using exhibition to establish an intimate conversation between each piece, giving the whole a
various media, playing on codes of demonstration, tremendous consistency. He creates a world crammed with possibilities, creating permanent
comparing objects which seem a priori to be opposites, interactions, ellipses, attractions and repulsions, inversions between horizontality and verticality,
to elicit meaning and drama. This investigation, incompatibilities between vacuum and matter, distortions of logic. From one piece to another,
sometimes taken to absurd lengths, undermines Lamas develops a meticulous network weaving a thread between each of them, which ultimately
measurement systems that govern our daily lives and enables a system to nd its own balance within imbalance.
literally challenges the exhibition space. An obvious
example is visible with Partial View. This work,
consisting of a rock and a scanner, highlights the
meeting of two heterogeneous elements, the relationship
between actual weight and the virtual weight of a
scanned image, the impossibility of understanding an
object if one only considers the surface of things. As in
many works, the artist opens up various issues here and
creates multiple opportunities for reading his works. Not
without humour, Lamas uses familiar objects, and either
reveals or misappropriates their inherent familiarity.
From the ping pong net which denes the
void (Boundary), to the golf ball which has passed
through the thickness of a wall (Alignment) or the
rubber die of a ball stuck under a oor board (Interaction
between two spaces) Lamas examines the energy
contained in familiar objects while removing their
intrinsic value. He destabilizes the visitor by changing
the meaning of many reference points: dice are used in
woven constellations (Constellations) or are sanded
down to a point where they become planets on a cutting
mat (Pebbles).
Measure
Wood folding ruler.
Dimensions variable.
Boundary
Ping pong net.
15 x 180 cm
Geometrization of the world Solidied space
Inkjet print on cotton paper. Inkjet print on cotton paper.
51 x 42 cm (framed) 71,5 x 51,5 cm (framed)
Constellations (III)
Inkjet print on cotton paper.
67 x 82 cm (framed)
Kg
Inkjet print on cotton paper + 1Kg dust ball.
66,5 x 48 cm (framed)
Technical drawing
Clay block.
19 x 37 x 7 cm
Alignment
Golf ball, hole on the wall.
4,3 cm
Ball
Three coupled tennis ball.
11 x 10 x 4,5 cm

Paradox
Inkjet print on cotton paper.
41,5 x 31,5 cm. (framed)
Pebbles 2
Polished dice, cutting matt, shelf, glass box.
30,5 x 46,5 cm (cutting mat)
Partial view
Rock, scanner.
Dimensions variable.

Interaction between two spaces

Rubber ball, wooden board.
Dimensions variable.
Anarchaeology
[2013]

The fragments of a brick previously broken are organized by weight on a

table and then used in this particular order as a method to restore the
original structure of the object. The nal result of this illogical process is the
photographic documentation of a jumble of disconnected fragments,
sustained only by rubber bands.
Ideas about the universe
[2013]

e best-selling science book ever published in the

English language, Cosmos by Carl Sagan, was modeled as
a piece of matter with a sander. As part of this action,
the book takes the appearance of a piece of matter
eroded. e paper particles extracted from the book
mixed with water are transformed into a ball that
resembles dung beetles roll on the ground. e ancient
Egyptians related this scarab to Khepri, the god of the
rising sun and believed that renewed the sun every day
before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it
through the other world after sunset, only to renew it,
again, the next day. 14 x 11 x 11cm (book) 7 cm (ball).
Method
[2013]

My limited knowledge of a language

(German) is taken as the starting
point for this work, where I sand all
the words and mathematical
equations that I dont understand in
the book of the Theory of Relativity
of A. Einstein. The result of this
action is a disjointed text where I
can understand each word of the
book but not the meaning of the
ideas in the original version. The
sanded words and equations become
a mound of remains next to the
book. 20 x 16 cm (book)
Contact
Fossil, iPad.
Dimensions variable.
Blind gestures
[2014]

Blind gestures, gathers 25 images scanned from dormant IPad screens.

Each scan registers the marks, scratches, ngerprints and dust
indenitely accumulated on the screen surface. In the process of
gathering these images, Lamas establishes an unusual relationship
between two electronic devices, using the scanner as photographic tool to
"expose" the information that constantly changes and focuses on the
"action space" of the tablets. The forms that are revealed may seem to be
spontaneous, tactile gestures without any criteria; but they are indeed the
registered actions of clear logic made to activate various functions of the
IPad, when it is turned on. Each image is unique, unrepeatable and
corresponds to a specic moment in the interaction with digital
information. Beside each image is the name of the IPad owner, putting
emphasis on the close relationship between the tablet and each user, and
the traces left by contact with a personal electronic device that translates
builds and interconnects a world that is on both sides of the screen.

Inkjet print on glossy paper.

150 x 114 cm (each)
La inconsistencia de lo visible
[2012]

La inconsistencia de lo visible explores under dierent parameters, the

crisis of the gaze within a scopic regime, challenging the vision as a
hegemonic tool which setup our notion of reality. Based in several
approaches, the exhibition establishes connections between objects and
images presented as methods or exercises that allow the questioning of
the role of invisibility, the imperceptible, what is hidden or unknown in
a culture obsessed with disclose, exhibit and increase the resolution of
images that build our world.

Point of view [Epson TX400]

Plaster head, multifunctional printer,
print on photographic Epson paper.
The shape of a hole Cyclops
Bronze. Inkjet print on cotton paper.
29,5 x 12,5 x 8,5 cm 50 x 35 cm
Vanishing birds
Book.
25 x 34 cm

Fossils in colours
Book, photo.
19 x 12 cm
Part of something bigger
Aluminum frame, glass, carpet.
31 x 22 cm (frame)

The illusion of knowledge

Mirror box, water, goldsh.
36 x 27 x 25 cm
Le ciel
Inkjet print on cotton paper.
40 x 50 cm
Scotoma
Iron powder, magnet, book about the Apollo project.
30 x 60 cm (shelf)
Cosmos (Cognitive gaps)
Inkjet on cotton paper.
53 x 80 cm
Platos cave
Inkjet on cotton paper.
44 x 66 cm
Fracturas
[2012]

Palabra de guerrillero
The poem Palabra de guerrillero by Javier Heraud is subjected to a systematic process of successive translations in 64 languages available in the Google translator. Each translation is the
basis for the next, transforming the original meaning of the poem, going from one language to another. This operation is repeated until the text is reduced to the minimal expression in the
language it was written. 21 x 15 x 6 cm (book)
Data entrpica
[2012]

Data entrpica exhibits the mechanisms that

handle, speculate and dramatize the information as
a way in which the contemporary crisis makes
itself evident. e installation displays a dialog
between dierent pieces that have been produced
manipulating devices of mass media such as TV,
audio, video, newspaper, photocopier, etc.

Using the concept of entropy as a degree of noise

and disorder in a communication system, the
artist presents nine pieces that block, suppress or
distort their essential tasks by bringing them away
from any representation of images and sounds. e
result is a group of works that question the role
and objectivity of mass media by putting into
evidence that not only mass media reflects the
world but also builds it.
La societ du spectacle
Handycam recording on closed-circuit television (CCTV).
All components that are not essential in it performing its
basic function have been extracted and put them in front of
the camera. 110 x 70 x 100 cm (table)
Extended frame 2
Inkjet print on cotton paper.
140 x 200 cm
Palimpsest 1
The 55 pages of the PDF article A Mathematical Theory of
Communication by Claude E. Shannon printed on one page, overlapping
each other in sequential order.
29 x 21 cm
Grac
Newspaper page partially erased.
28 x 39 cm
Loop
112 ringed, almost identical, copies taken by placing a
mirror on photocopier tray. A5 paper format.
Espacio de contingencia
[2012]

Espacio de contingencia is the gradual transformation

of a physical space through dierent elements that are
related at dierent levels of perception, language and
meaning.

For this installation process, dierent objects, images

and sounds constantly interact in a space that is taken as
a laboratory of experimentation, recording and display
of micro-events situations that are constantly changing.
A scenario where both new elements and fragments of
works that were part of my past projects, create a new
network of semantic connections, and reformulating the
meaning of its original conceptual basis.

Multiple possibilities of relationship between dierent

information levels are linked in a common area.
Through dierent visual and conceptual approaches
connected, I will generate a conceptual mapping with
dierent poetic connections and reconsiderations of the
role of representation systems as constructor of what we
know as reality.
nicolaslamas@hotmail.com