Ana Prada's Transformative Approach to Everyday Objects in Sculpture and Graphics

Ana Prada, an artist originally from Spain now based in London, has broadened her artistic repertoire to include sculptures, photomontages, and graphics. She takes mass-produced items such as plastic clothes-pegs and electric wires, breaking them down and reconstructing them into geometric shapes. In contrast to the Minimalist movement of the 1960s, Prada transforms readymade objects to the point of near anonymity. Her graphic pieces merge commercial art and comics, echoing the style of Japanese woodcuts. In her 2015 series T.B Creator, the heads of electric toothbrushes evoke microcosmic worlds. Her photomontages, like a giant bubblegum balloon displayed in a gallery, fuse fantasy with reality, engaging viewers in a manner reminiscent of Velázquez's Las Meninas (1656). Much of her work is transient, often discarded post-exhibition. This article appeared in April 2015.