^{_{Exhibition view of «Red Square Impossible Pink» by Melanie Smith at the 54th International Venice Biennale, Italy, 2011}}

Las Pozas, a seductive and decadent setting for nature’s exuberance in Mexican landscape, is the motive behind Xilitla: Dismantled 1. This film, shot in 35mm, calls into question the imaginary limits between modern and contemporary art practices. The surreal construction mechanisms that Edward James used to build his semitropical enclave are disassembled. By constructing it through visual and audio distancing from the natural landscape, Smith disassembles the modern gaze, which turns the exotic landscape into a screen and an image whereupon its own desire is projected.

^{_{Melanie Smith. Selva IV, 2013. Acrylic enamel on acrylic, 95 x 130 cm}}

^{_{Melanie Smith. Escalera al cielo, 2010. Digital print on cotton paper, 110 X 82 cm Melanie Smith. Arco gótico, 2010. Digital print on cotton paper, 135 x 96 cm}}

^{_{Melanie Smith. Monkeys II, 2010. Oil on canvas, 83 x 112 cm}}

^{_{Melanie Smith. Selva V, 2013. Acrylic enamel on acrylic, 100 x 130 cm}}

^{_{Melanie Smith. Skulls, 2010. Oil on canvas, 52 x 84 cm}}