Darío Escobar's desire to bring together Guatemala's past and present first came to the fore in the early 2000s with a series of works exploring his country's baroque past and the enthusiasm for sports that predominates among its population today.
-Alma Ruiz
Using skateboards and various other sports equipment, Darío has effectively and often humorously deconstructed the forms, uses, and meanings of the objects with which he works. While he has successfully applied this approach to a myriad of common objects such as bicycle tires, camping gear, McDonald’s cups, shopping carts, chrome bumpers, the perspective applied via his use of sports equipment is particularly relevant.
Darío’s edition with The Lapis Press, Sin título, expands on Darío’s investigation into the global sports industry and the phenomenon of skateboarding as a lifestyle. In Sin título Darío literally deconstructs a skateboard and reconstructs it with a series of hinges. By removing its use value and re-contextualizing it as art (effectively appropriating Marcel Duchamp’s approach to his readymades), Darío presents in stark relief the culture of skateboarding beyond the sport.