Coco Capitán was invited to create a project inspired by the 7L library and its 33,000 books. Reflecting on the richness of references she was surrounded with, the resulting installation unfolds in two reverberating parts celebrating the playfulness and power of words. Her journey through this collection of books started with familiar landmarks from XXth century American photography: from the gay iconography of Robert Mapplethorpe (Robert Mapplethorpe 1986, Raab Gallery) to an anthology of post-industrial landcapes (Measure of Emptiness: Grain Elevators in the American Landscape) and a photography report assessing the aftermath of the Great Depression (Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, James Agee and Walker Evans, 1941). Reading James Agee's essay in the latter led her to question her own legitimacy as an artist in choosing her subjects and fields of interest. In her search for alternative and more inclusive view points, she brought a book from her own collection: Nothing Personal by Richard Avedon and James Baldwin.

    More than the images, she was drawn to these books for the words, for their formal presentation and arrangement on the page. Coco Capitán excavates and reappropriates these words in her paintings, borrowing artwork and book titles from Robert Mapplethorpe, phrases from James Balwin and James Agees, mimicking the different typefaces and page designs. All these borrowed words resonated with her own state of mind at the time and informed her narrative, channelling the developement of the second part of the exhibition centered around common thoughts. In the last four paintings, Coco Capitán's handwriting emerges on the painting, capturing personal reflections around the dichotomy of the world (Armagedon) and her own capacity to procrastinate (The Thrill of Inaction and The Inconvenience of Action).

    "I entered Karl Lagerfeld's library with no particular goal in mind, letting my attention wander and settle on words or themes that captivated me at that moment. In the absence of a shared index, I allowed myself to be guided by chance, instinct and surprise, which led me to make discoveries that I might never have made with a more conventional and systematic approach. By borrowing the words that spoke to me and giving them a place in my world, I painted several works as a tribute to the authors and artists I encountered in the heart of this library, but also as a symbol of the generative power of curiosity itself. How a curious mind can lead us to unexpected worlds of thought and transform our understanding of what is possible."

Coco Capitán