Daniela Libertad: Yo Regreso a las Acciones Sencillas

By Mark Jenkins 

March 18, 2022 

The pencil and the human hand are integral to the minimalist work in Daniela Libertad’s show at the University of Maryland Art Gallery, but that doesn’t mean the Mexico-born, Germany-based artist is exhibiting only graphite drawings. Pencil whorls cover two large sheets of paper — one is gray, the other nearly black — included in Libertad’s “Yo Regreso a las Acciones Sencillas” (“I Return to Simple Actions”) show. But there’s also a video in which a pencil balances wobblingly near a wrist, and the titles of all the sleek, immaculately made artworks were written lightly on the walls in pencil by the artist.

The show’s centerpiece is a large, site-specific installation of off-white yarn wrapped between and around two pillars. The loops overlap in the center so that the whole resembles an infinity symbol. This insular construction alludes to the effects of the pandemic, notes the gallery’s statement. 

In addition to yarn, paper and pencil — including a gray pile of eraser shavings on the floor — Libertad is drawn to copper. A cylinder covered in copper lies on the floor, and hanging from the ceiling are both a circular copper bar and a sort-of ladder of cutout paper rectangles. The hand makes more appearances in a series of three photos in which it’s inserted in various positions through holes in brick. The simplest of Libertad’s simple actions is merely to place her hand in relation to another everyday object.