Happenings

Artists: Omar Barquet, José Luis Landet, Ernesto Alva, Christian Camacho Reynoso, Ricardo Cuevas, Julie Escoffier, Mauro Giaconi, Blanca González, Sergio Gutiérrez and Nelson Santos.

Diferencias sobre lo blanco
July 5 – August 23, 2014
Curated by Marissa Viani Serrano
Casa Galeria D.F.
Mexico City, Mexico

La muestra multidisciplinaria Diferencias sobre lo blanco, se presentará del 5 de julio al 23 de agosto en Casa Galería, proyecto independiente de producción de arte contemporáneo situado en el sur de la ciudad. Con esta muestra Casa Galería pretende celebrar haberse convertido en proyecto exitoso dentro la plataforma Fondeadora, produciendo una exposición de alta calidad que incluye el trabajo de 10 artistas de contrastada trayectoria, tanto mexicanos como internacionales de países como Argentina, Francia y Ecuador. Encontramos entre los participantes a artistas como Omar Barquet (Mx) (becario del FONCA, beca Bancomer-MACG Arte Actual, seleccionado en la Bienal Rufino Tamayo) o el argentino José Luis Landet (también becario del FONCA y con una larga trayectoria en México…entre otros países). El plantel lo completan Ernesto Alva (Mx); Christian Camacho Reynoso (Mx); Ricardo Cuevas (Mx); Julie Escoffier (Fr); Mauro Giaconi (Ar); Blanca González (Mx); Sergio Gutiérrez (Mx); y Nelson Santos (Ec), todos de una reconocida y consolidada trayectoria.

Bajo la curaduría de Marissa Viani (cineasta, curadora e investigadora), tercera dentro ciclo de curadoras jóvenes que participan en Casa Galería este año,Diferencias sobre lo blanco aborda el concepto de lo “neutro” en la obra artística.

La muestra propone que cada artista, independientemente de su estilo, reflexione sobre su propio proceso encontrando la figura más sencilla o más acabada que le permita recuperar el sentido esencial de su pieza a través de la exposición de un fragmento o resto de ella misma.

Viani asegura que las pinturas, dibujos, collages, videos e instalaciones de esta muestra, se construyen tomando distancia de cualquiera que sea su objeto para poner de manifiesto una relación de infinitud en su propio dis-cursus, curso desunido e interrumpido.

De esta manera, lo “neutro” encuentra su expresión en un objeto que se desobjetiviza para dar origen a un nuevo objeto neutro. Lo “neutro” aparece en el momento en que se comienza a (des)dibujar, a encontrar (perder) el tono, el color, el aspecto, la forma o el motivo. Roland Barthes lo relaciona con el “Minimal Art”, surgido en Nueva York en la década de los sesenta, como reacción al desborde del expresionismo abstracto del action-painting, donde existe un renunciamiento a cualquier significación extra-visual de un objeto presentado como evidencia simple de una realidad irrefutable.

Artists: Emilio Chapela

Réquiem Opus II
July 19 – September 13, 2014
Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo
Mexico City, Mexico

Artists: Josef Albers, Ricardo Alcaide, Salwa Aleryani, Afruz Amighi, Rasheed Araeen, Dana Awartani, Marlon de Azambuja, Rana Begum, James Clar, Graham Day, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Richard Deacon, Adrian Esparza, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Mounir Fatmi, Basmah Felemban, Babak Golkar, Hazem Harb, Nargess Hashimi, Sahand Hesmayan, Saba Innab, Nadia Khawaja, Sol LeWitt, Hazem Mahdy, Sama Mara & Lee Westwood, Moataz Nasr, Timo Nasseri, Mujahidin Nurrahman, Seckin Pirim, Younes Rahmoun, Dania Al Saleh, Nasser Al Salem, Sara Salman, Gulay Semercioglu, Seher Shah, Ayesha Sultana, Gebran Tarazi, Michael John Whelan, and Ralf Ziervogel.

The Language of Human  Consciousness
July 11- October 10, 2014
Athr Gallery
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

For thousands of years, the question of whether the basics of geometry came naturally to all humans or if they had to be taught has been explored. According to Plato’s writings, Socrates attempted to determine how well an uneducated slave in a Greek household understood geometry, and eventually concluded that the slave’s soul “must have always possessed this knowledge.”

In the midst of startling havoc; humans by this very instinct seek to find order in this chaos, to reason with it; translating it to a language that is perhaps visual and universal is a common field of exploration for scientists and artists alike.

Athr Gallery will deliver a groundbreaking exhibition titled The Language of Human Consciousness in July and will include work by over 39 artists from around the world. Most of these artists will be exhibiting work for the first time in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East at large. To inaugurate the opening on July 10, Director of Tate Modern, Chris Dercon will moderate a discussion with pioneering artists in the field whom are Rasheed Araeen, Dana Awartani, Richard Deacon and Founder of Agial Gallery Saleh Barakat, who will be representing the late Gebran Tarazi.

Work by pioneering artists such as Josef Albers, Rasheed Araeen, Richard Deacon, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Sol Lewitt and Gebran Tarazi will be exhibited: Rasheed Araeen—a Pakistani national and London-based conceptual artist, sculptor, painter, writer, curator and founder of the The Third Text—will also be participating in the exhibition with his work, Zero to Infinity—of which a variation of the work was exhibited and acquired by the TATE Modern. The installation consists of 36 multi-colored cubes. The discussion will end with Rasheed inviting guests to move the units around the gallery, disrupting the uniform display to leave the cubes in a more complex and spontaneous arrangement.

The Language of Human Consciousness takes geometry as a starting point, accepting its heritage as a symbol of purity, intelligence and perfection and bringing it towards a more contemporary interpretation as a language for exploring the atypical, the imperfect and the alternative. Works are brought together that seek to dissect segments of times, contexts and places and open them up to universal interpretation. The works, in the potency of the contradiction between their infinite possibilities as geometric compositions and the range of their references—social, political, art historical or other—are reduced to a neutral ground: to a human and conceivable form.

Artists: Carlos Aires, Mark Hogensen, Leigh Anne Lester, Rigoberto Luna, Francisco Merel, Ann-Michele Morales, Ricardo Rendón, Ansen Seale, Xochi Solis, and Jason Villegas.

Flatland
July 11 – October 11, 2014
Curated by Patty Ortiz
Museo Guadalupe
San Antonio, TX, USA

In a time of globalization, transcultural movement and the leveling of world commerce, economists believe that today the earth could be perceived as becoming flat. They have used this metaphor to describe the world economy. This condition can also be utilized in describing transcultural movement. With the ease of cross migration, cultures are continuing to collide at a more rapid rate. The globalization of culture, ideas and artistic practice is creating a new balance, interface and flat playing field.  Artists further the notion of “flatness” by the appropriation of popular imagery from their own and other cultures. The exponential growth of digital communication has accelerated this process. The universal presence of the actual flat screen monitor has brought about a flat screen mentality. Yet artists are able to juggle their ethnicity, cultural experience and global views to create works that are multilayered and distinct. The presenting artists of FLATLAND are at the intersection of cultural form, process and meaning in this emerging flat world.

Images: Installation view, courtesy of the artist.

Artists: Pablo Jansana, Evan Nesbit and Letha Wilson.

Summer Exhibition
July 9 – August 8, 2014
Eleven Rivinqton
NYC, NY, USA

Eleven Rivington’s summer schedule includes two group shows-work by three late abstractionists at the gallery’s Rivington Street Space (Moira Dryer, Elizabeth Murray and Alan Shields) and, to balance it out, mixed-medium works by three emerging artists around the corner on Chrystie Street. Letha Wilson is probably the best known of the group; her photo-sculpture hybrids incorporate landscape snapshots and concrete, the outcome resembling a geological cross-section. Evan Nesbit’s large-scale paintings seemingly vibrate off the wall, their nubby surface texture achieved by forcing brightly colored acrylic paint through stretched burlap. Rounding out the show are Chilean-born Pablo Jansana’s crisply geometric photo, wood and aluminum compositions.

This exhibition has been mentioned by Art in America magazine as one of the must-see 5 shows in NYC. To read more about it visit Art in America.

Image: “Waitress 2”, 2014, Ultrachrome 4880 inkjet, aluminum, fiber glass, plexi, fluted poly pro and enamel, 24 x 18 x 5 in. (61 x 45.7 x 12.7 cm)

Image: “Waitress 3”, 2014, Ultrachrome 4880 inkjet, aluminum, fiber glass, plexi, fluted poly pro and enamel, 24 x 18 x 5 in. (61 x 45.7 x 12.7 cm)

Image: “Waitress 1”, 2014, Ultrachrome 4880 inkjet, aluminum, fiber glass, plexi, fluted poly pro and enamel, 24 x 18 x 5 in. (61 x 45.7 x 12.7 cm)