Happenings

Artists: Ana Bidart, Jonathan Callan, Beth Campbell, Martí Cormand, Elena Del Rivero, Marco Maggi, Stefana McClure, Lauren Seiden, Sérgio Sister, John Sparagana, and Julianne Swartz.

The Suspended Line
January 10 – February 14, 2015
Josée Bienvenu Gallery
New York, NY, USA

The Suspended Line includes a series of intense tensions and ethereal suspensions: thoughts suspended in submerged books, knitted music sheets, perforated porcelain towels and socks, gold leaf constellations, fatigued newsprint, disjointed bricks: the works in the exhibition challenge the division between two and three dimensions and Newton’s law of universal gravitation.

Ana Bidart’s work is concerned with the possibilities and impossibilities of drawing, in space and across time. She explores nomadic and hyperactive art forms by bringing to life found objects: the formally exquisite yet intrinsically disposable or the materially precious but casually discarded. With Disappointment she reconstitutes meaning in potential interactions between two found objects. Born in Montevideo in 1985, she lives and works in Mexico DF.

Jonathan Callan explores the relationship of disembodied knowledge to embodied experience.  The books that form the footprint of Range are forever held in sedimentary layers that will never be opened. Knowledge is often thought to precipitate down through history and accumulate as the sum of many human additions, but here the plaster, like snow, sprinkles down in mountain peaks denying access to the books under the weight that covers them. Born in Manchester in 1961, he lives and works in London.

Beth Campbell creates works that challenge the notion of a physical world beyond our perception. Drawing upon philosophy, phenomenology and psychology, Campbell choreographs space, crafts uncanny objects, and maps thought. In Campbell’s installations and recent sculpture, what appears at first glance to be a facsimile of the everyday will reveal startling complexity: forms repeat and stutter, interiority is externalized and the familiar becomes strange. Born in 1971 in Illinois, she lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Martí Cormand’s work is a testimony to the degradation of certainty. For the past two years, he has been investigating the notion of conviction by observing and rendering iconic works of the conceptual art movement  “When no one has too many certitudes any more, processes become essential. I have nothing urgent to communicate, no absolute convictions. I investigate the certainties that others had in the 1960s and 1970s. My favorite subject is the study of conviction” (Martí Cormand).  Born in Spain in 1970, he lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Elena del Rivero’s works are rooted in estrangement and recollection. Work and daily routine often intermingle in her oeuvre to become one. In most of del Rivero’s work, delicacy and a sense of loving attention coexist with a feeling of neglect and abandonment. In Wound, a hint to Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, the punctured 24k gold leafed paper surface, bears the tool of its making with a needle and a thread, left over hanging in the center of the work. Born in Valencia, Spain in 1948, she has been living in New York for the last 30 years.

Marco Maggi’s drawings and sculptures encode the world. Composed of linear patterns that suggest circuit boards, aerial views of impossible cities, genetic engineering or nervous systems, his drawings are a thesaurus of the infinitesimal and the undecipherable. Marco Maggi’s abstract language refers to the way information is processed in a global era. Marco Maggi divides the act of drawing.  Born in Montevideo in 1957, he lives and works in New York and will represent Uruguay at The 56th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia this year.

Distillation of time and obliteration of information characterize Stefana McClure’s drawings and sculptures. All of her work involves translation, transposition and reconstruction as music is changed into text, and text is turned into image. The Planets (op. 32), is a spectacular symphonic suite scored for large orchestral forces and a wordless chorus, written by Gustav Holst between 1914 and 1916. The 192 page score has been sliced and rejoined as continuous lengths of paper yarn and each of the seven movements have been knitted back together again. McClure unveils and reveals the visual fabric of The Planets (op. 32): drawings to a symphonic suite by Gustav Holst as she translates and transposes the synesthetic structure that connects music and image. Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, she lives and works in New York.

Lauren Seiden’s work explores the essential elements of process and materiality through an intuitive and intimate layering of graphite, breaking down the surface and transforming the paper into a physical, textural and structural form, further expanding upon the notion of drawing as painting and painting as sculpture.  The act of folding strengthens the structure while weakening the surface allowing for necessary manipulation of the material in order to maintain stability. These dualities of strength and fragility are encapsulated within a process that, like the work itself, strikes a balance between the internal and external. Born in 1981, she lives and works in New York.

Sergío Sister’s work stands at the edge between painting and sculpture. The Ripas, ladrillos, pontaletes appropriate the names of the manufactured products from which they are derived. Sergío Sister’s work relates to the US tradition of minimalism and to the Neo-Concrete movement of the 1960’s in Brazil. Many bridges can be drawn between Sister’s attempts to incorporate three-dimensional space and Mira Schendel’s Sarrafos or Willys de Castro’s Objectos Activos. Made of wooden beams dressed in canvas, Sisters ladrillos investigate surface and depth through subtle color dislocations. Born in São Paulo in 1948, he lives and works in São Paulo.

For more than a decade, John Sparagana has been working with found magazine images as his primary material.  His work has developed into a full-fledged investigation into the way information is presented and disseminated visually within contemporary culture. Born in 1958 in Rochester, New York, he lives and works in Houston and Chicago.

With lightness and gravity, Julianne Swartz places equal importance upon negative space, ambient sound, interruptions of sculptural line, and the interface between outside and inside. Her work encourages a quizzical reconsideration of our relationship to our body, to each other and to our surroundings. Lean, a steel rod defies reason as it leans towards a wall but doesn’t touch it, pushing the limits of physical gravity very literally, while exploring gravity metaphorically, in reference to the limitations, fragility and endurance of the body, and the weight of human relationships. Born in Phoenix, AZ in 1967, she lives and works in Kingston, New York.

Image: Elena Del Rivero, Wound, 2014, 24k gold leaf on punctured abaca paper, needle, thread, 11.75 x 11.75 inches

Artists: Abot Allievi, Arnaiz Dipierro, Grilo Hlito, Kirin, Macaparana, Lucía Mara, Fabio Miniotti, Fidel Sclavo, Eduardo Stupía, Ana Sacerdote.

Déjà Vu
November 17, 2014 – March 6, 2015
Galería Jorge Mara La Ruche
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Selección de obra de artistas de la galería.

Artists: Alexander Apóstol and Adán Vallecillo.

Geometría, Acción y Souvenirs del Discurso Insurgente (Geometry, Action and Souvenirs of the Insurgent Discourse)
Proyecto Fachada (Façade Project) 
December 18, 2014–March 15, 2015
Proyecto Siqueiros: Sala de Arte Público
Mexico City, Mexico

The new exhibitions at the Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros are centered on a dialogue regarding the leftist political positions that defined part of the strategies of the Modern Art movement in Mexico. Departing from the analysis of David Alfaro Siqueiros’s texts, Alexander Apóstol (b. 1969, Caracas) generates an interdisciplinary collective-practice in open conversation with science—specifically mathematics. His aim is to find possible representation stages that can displace Siqueiros’s writing towards a scientific codification; once deconstructed, it will imply the areas of music, dance, drawing and documentation as catalyst and witness of this research.

Geometría, Acción y Souvenirs del Discurso Insurgente (Geometry, Action and Souvenirs of the Insurgent Discourse) is the title with which Apóstol takes stand amongst Marxist discourses in Latin America; underlining political notions and the definite serial-character it attained on certain historical moments. His research departs from four texts written by Siqueiros: “Manifiesto del Sindicato de obreros, técnicos, pintores y escultores,” 1924; (Manifest of the Workers Union, Painters and Sculptors, 1924); “De tal generador, tal voltaje,” 1933 (Such Generator, Such Voltage, 1933); “En la guerra, arte de guerra,” 1943 (In War, Art of War, 1943); “Hacia la revolución técnica de la pintura,” 1932 (Towards the Technical Revolution in Painting, 1932)—texts where the muralist spoke about the political responsibility of artistic creation and the construction of a new art.

For Apóstol, the replica of these ideological ideas has been a constant in the region—traveling while shaped as assertive policies in servile idealization or absurd parody. Being so, his work is located in this path, breaking down and codifying Siqueiros’s political speech using science-based mechanisms of translation, in pursuit of returning it to representation stages in art.

The interest upon implying science in the translation of ideological-texts is a continuity of the “Absolute”—postulate that defined the inherited “Soviet ways of thinking” in those years. Departing from these four essays, information derives in theorems associated with ideological processes regarding four gnoseological and operative categories: Science, Faith, Politics and Economy. Every codification resolves in a mathematical absolute law, where not only its numerical synthesis rests, but its capacity to bear mechanical reproduction.

Parting from this process, the numbers are returned to the field of representation, where a group of high school students will attempt to interpret them via drawing—geometrical designs that Apóstol transforms in large-format murals. A group of dancers and choreographers displace the theorems (above mentioned) towards spatial-displacement, generating video-installations; finally, music students interpret the mathematical formulae—already converted into scores—carrying them to the field of sound interpretation (Live Act) in the museum space.

On other front, Adam Vallecillo (b. 1977, Honduras) creates a new Intervention for Proyecto Fachada (Façade Project) reflecting upon the relations between art and militancy. His project seeks the coming about of a critical debate that questions political presence as a constant in contemporary Conceptual Latin-American Art.

Composed by an Installation and an action piece—recovering David Alfaro Siqueiros as an emblematic figure of the political activist artist—as well as through various discussion encounters called Interpelaciones (Interpellations)—title that opens up an ongoing critical reflection process and its relation with Latin-American key-artists.

Geometría, Acción y Souvenirs del Discurso Insurgente (Geometry, Action and Souvenirs of the Insurgent Discourse), has been curated by Taiyana Pimentel, Director of Proyecto Siqueiros: SAPS-La Tallera, with curatorial coordination by Mariana Mañón Sepúlveda; while Proyecto Fachada (Façade Project) was curated by Yameli Mera, Curator of the Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros.

Artist: Santiago Reyes Villaveces

Traino (Remolque)
December 4 – 15, 2014
Caballerizza Real de Turín
Turin, Italy

Ciento noventa y dos alambres sujetan cada una de las silla del antiguo teatro de la Cavallerizza real que funcionó hasta hace 7 años, hoy, espacio de la ciudad de Turín ocupado por una asamblea de ciudadanos, se concentran en un mismos punto de una viga de madera atrancada en el antiguo portón del establo y punto central del escenario del teatro. La viga es presionada contra el vano del portón por la tensión del alambre y las sillas aprisionadas por la resistencia de la viga. A modo de proyección que se abre desde la viga hacia la tribuna o un centro que concentra y sujeta las lineas de fuga en un único punto, la instalación Traino es un embate de perspectivas y tensión.

Imágenes: “Traino (remolque)”, 2014, Alambre de acero y madera (550cmx20cmx20cm), 50mx50m. Fotos de Paolo Pellion

Artists: Ana Maria Tavares, Valeska Soares, Laura Vinci, Rosangela Rennó, León Ferrari, Marcelo Silveira, Milton Marques, Jorge Menna Barreto, Emmanuel Nassar, Eliane Prolik, Oswaldo Goeldi, Maciej Babinski, Hudinilson Jr., Nazareth Pacheco, Farnese de Andrade, Leonilson, Amilcar de Castro, Mira Schendel, David Ireland, Mabe Bethônico, Rodrigo Andrade, Tatiana Blass, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Marcius Galan, Hércules Barsotti, Antonio Manuel, Caetano de Almeida, Waltercio Caldas, Marcos Chaves, Nelson Leirner, Regina Silveira, Marcelo Moscheta, Ricardo Basbaum e Shirley Paes Leme.

Afetividades Eletivas
December 2, 2014 – March 1, 2015
Centro Cultural Minas Tênis Clube
Belo Horizonte, Brazil

A mostra conta com 150 trabalhos – pintura, escultura, gravura, desenho, fotografia, vídeo e registros de performance –, de cerca de 100 artistas nacionais e estrangeiros. Realizadas nos últimos 40 anos, essas obras permitem tanto a discussão sobre o colecionismo quanto sobre os questionamentos suscitados pela arte contemporânea. “Sempre me interessei por novas tendências e por uma arte que problematizasse sua própria constituição enquanto arte”, ressalta Luiz, que começou sua coleção enquanto ainda era estudante de Engenharia da UFMG.

Com curadoria de Margarida Sant’Anna e do próprio Luiz Sérgio Arantes, o fio condutor da exposição, que será aberta ao público no dia 3 de dezembro, é a relação afetiva do colecionador com suas obras e com as obras dos vários artistas presentes, algumas representadas com trabalhos experimentais, obras ofertadas como gesto de amizade, outras cuidadosamente garimpadas em galerias e leilões, e que, pouco a pouco, eletivamente, foram encontrando seu lugar no conjunto, como que regidas por uma lógica intuitiva.

As obras estão agrupadas em núcleos, tendo em vista o valor intrínseco de cada uma delas e as ideias que determinadas relações permitem discutir: o emprego da letra, da palavra ou da caligrafia como elemento visível constitutivo; o corpo como suporte em diferentes operações artísticas; o espaço questionado pela arte, seja como representação, seja como campo, lugar da experiência; e a arte como questão da arte, na relação com a sua história, com o mercado e com o próprio colecionismo.

Nesses possíveis diálogos, ficam evidenciadas as questões que atravessam o imaginário contemporâneo, a partir do contexto cultural em que as obras foram produzidas. Os núcleos, entretanto, remetem-se uns aos outros, estimulando leituras transversais.

Para a arte contemporânea, o espaço da galeria deixa de ser apenas um lugar de apresentação para se tornar parte integrante da obra. E, nesse espaço, o espectador passa a ser participante e construtor da obra com o seu olhar.

Tendo uma única coleção como campo para possíveis recortes, é inevitável que se busque estabelecer o perfil desse conjunto, a procedência das obras, de que maneira cada peça foi sendo incorporada ao conjunto. São essas circunstâncias que ajudam a dar sentido ao todo e a delinear nexos entre os seus diversos segmentos. Elas revelam a personalidade do colecionador, mas, ao mesmo tempo, falam, de maneira muito particular, do movimento cultural do período em que as peças foram sendo incorporadas e em que medida o ambiente cultural pauta os caminhos da subjetividade na constituição de uma coleção.

Uma circunstância, em especial, favoreceu a formação dessa coleção, num momento anterior à proliferação das galerias, dos leilões e das feiras de arte: a associação aos Clubes de Colecionadores de Gravura e de Fotografia do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. Com curadorias atentas, esses Clubes têm esgarçado as fronteiras da arte, empurrando cada vez mais longe seus limites, problematizando, enfim, sua própria constituição enquanto arte. E essa tem sido uma questão fundamental para a arte contemporânea.

Outro fator, não menos importante, é o interesse pelos artistas mineiros desde o tempo em que o colecionador frequentava a Faculdade de Engenharia, na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Três gerações de artistas estão contempladas na coleção, tendo como figura central Amilcar de Castro, representado com cinco obras na exposição. Amigos e contemporâneos do artista, seus alunos e uma geração mais jovens, constituída de artistas com menos de 30 anos, também figuram no conjunto exposto.