Coco Capitán delves into the vastness of the unknown, much like the sailors who navigate uncharted waters, ever so present in her practice. The sea, with its ever-changing moods and its symbolism of both freedom and uncertainty mirrors Capitán's body of work— questions of time, identity, and the human spirit's longing for exploration. In this exhibition, Capitán's art captures the essence of the sailor’s journey, the solitude of the sea, and the profound reflections that arise from it. Her work challenges us to confront the mysteries of the horizon and the deeper currents within ourselves. A journey is never about the destination, but the acceptance of life's uncertainty, the beauty of the open ocean, and the wisdom that comes from surrendering to the unpredictable nature of existence itself.
L05T L053R [Rather be losing & lost than found and bored]
Spiral, Tokyo, 2024
Honouring the architectural sophistication of Spiral, a large-scale installation becomes the central piece. A dramatic and surreal scene unfolds: a life-sized sailing boat seems to have violently emerged from beneath the gallery floor, splitting the ground into jagged fragments, as if caught in the moment of breaching the earth’s crust and evoking a sense of rupture, momentum, and sudden emergence. The vessel is captained by a ghostly skipper, L057 L053R.
Capitán reimagines discarded boat sails as canvases for her thought-provoking wordplay. These sails, once weathered by the sea, are cut and reassembled into abstract compositions. Over the patchwork, Capitán's signature euphemisms interact with the pre-existing numbers and markings from the sails, creating a dialogue between the past life of the materials and her fresh interventions. The result is a poetic fusion of nautical history and contemporary commentary, where the text floats like waves over the fabric, inviting viewers to explore the tension between meaning, material, and memory.
L057 L053R the sailor, becomes an allegory for the artist’s narrative. Through him, Capitán talks about freedom from fear and control. L057 L053R finds meaning in impermanence and the beauty of the unknown. To him, getting lost is simply a way of finding something new. Losing battles, supplies, or even pieces of his heart are seen as natural exchanges in his journey through life. He follows the belief that to truly understand the world, you must surrender to it, giving up the need for mastery in favour of a deeper connection to the forces of nature and that which is outside of our control L057 L053R doesn’t seek treasure, redemption, or power. His aim is the journey itself—constantly moving, always curious, and never anchored. He has no fear of losing because to him, loss is part of the journey. He views the world through a lens of infinite possibilities, unconcerned with achieving or possessing anything. A philosophy of embracing life's uncertainties. As Capitán, he stands for the rejection of conventional success and the pursuit of inner freedom. He challenges the notion that we must always know where we’re going, suggesting instead that the act of wandering and redefining failure and loss as simply part of the journey.
L057 L053R’s journey is never about the destination, but the acceptance of life's uncertainty, the beauty of the open ocean, and the wisdom that comes from surrendering to the unpredictable nature of existence itself.
