Argentine artist, Guillermo Kuitca’s, work is currently on view at MAM in show that will run through Art Basel to January 17.

The MAM boasts that it’s the “The most comprehensive survey of Guillermo Kuitca’s work ever presented in North America,” including more than 50 canvases and 25 works on paper.

On first impression, taking in the entire 28 years worth of art at one time is both daunting and disorienting. The earliest works speak of an interest in the theater, with titles drawing from plays, popular music, and literature.

From the early 80’s to mid 90’s, Kuitca work begins to deal more and more with an idiosyncratic obsession with maps, and architecture, and genealogical charts. Beds become another topic of obsession for the artists, with many works depicting beds, while others substitute canvas for actual mattresses.

The many shifting approaches overwhelm the viewer and seem to elicit a sense of frustration from the artist. Like the draftsman on deadline, feverishly scribbling away at the drawing board for ideas, you get a same sense of desperation in Kuitca’s work. Continuing with the metaphor, it’s almost as though the artist has compulsively drawn and erased numerous times on the same page, leaving a figurative mess of graphite smudges, eraser shavings, and maybe even frustrated pencil stabs at the paper.

The most recent work on paper from the late-90’s on serves to deconstruct and subvert the painted works that came before it. He builds up and he tears down. He drastically switches up mode of operation and grapples with the process, in a way that unwittingly serves to make you anxious. Once the dust settles though, broader ideas, and a clear personality begins to emerge from the body of work. Idiosyncratic obsessions with maps, architecture, and beds. The intersection of public and private spaces, and its broader implications.

Miami Art Museum: 101 W Flagler St., Miami; 305-375-3000; miamiartmuseum.org