In 1921, the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach conceived a new way of analyzing emotional functioning through submitting a patient to interpret symmetrical inkblots. Reinterpreting this projection process, Augusto Arbizo creates a series of intimate 10-1/2×10-1/2 oil-based abstract paintings on paper, in black and white enamel, referring to the Rorschach inkblot tests.

As an homage to artists, as well as a critique and an extension of his curatorial practice, Augusto Arbizo gathers ads from recent copies of Artforum – an acknowledged publication devoting a large portion of its content to advertising – and brings them to life again by recycling the images as a medium and surface for his new works. As we rarely, if ever, look at the images or text in these ads, this process gives them more consideration, highlighting the mechanically reproduced artwork and its dual roles in the art market and art history.

Among the published ads in Artforum, Arbizo chooses images depicting the works from artists he likes and admires, such as Andy Warhol, Elizabeth Peyton, Brice Marden or Ellen Gallagher, on which he produces his Rorschach blots. Sometimes the blots are fading into Arbizo’s own signature, conflating the Rorschach test into a self-portrait.

In the Artforum series, Augusto Arbizo has simplified his process by taking out all the color that was a primary feature of previous bodies of work. Line, shape and form now take center stage through a greater variety of mark and image making, from organic to geometric and linear. Arbizo’s recycled Artforum blots, reflecting both artistic and curatorial vision, are like small dots in our art-historical yet commercial subconscious memory, and their size and sharpness evoke that they must be made quick and fast, as to fit their primary printed source.