» economics

Abstraction in Action Alexander Apóstol https://abstractioninaction.com/artists/alexander-apostol/

Translated from Spanish

During the ‘50s, the post-war scarcities were still latent, and the system took advantage of two buildings that met innovations in construction (concrete) and conceptually (offices, shops and housing in one), used by first-world countries, pretending to give an image of financial prosperity that had not reached Spain during that period of time. Similar attempts were limited, offering with this pair of towers in Plaza España an unreal, blurred and fictitious image of the Madrid of those days. Currently, the towers are part of millionaire real estate affairs, in a developed country that has based part of its economic prosperity in construction and real estate business; within a democratic system that, with its virtues and defects has not yet overcome the effects of Francoism. Therefore I propose the unfinished image, through trees, of the España Building and the Madrid Tower, as icons of a desire and a (failed?) moment in the history of the city; two towers that unsuccessfully tried to “hide” an adverse economic reality and that curiously, today coexist in a veiled social and political situation that is confusing and contradictory against the memory of the Spanish dictatorship. Thus they are two veiled situations, parallel to each other, that coexist in the history of the city and in which these buildings are protagonists and witnesses.

Durante los años cincuenta, las penurias de posguerra aún eran evidentes, y el sistema se valió de dos edificaciones que reunían innovaciones de construcción (hormigón) y conceptuales (oficinas, comercios y viviendas en uno) usadas en países primer-mundistas, para pretender dar una imagen de prosperidad económica que durante esos años aún no había llegado a España. Intentos similares fueron escasos, ofreciendo con este par de torres en la Plaza España, una imagen irreal, velada y ficticia de la Madrid de entonces. Ellas hoy día son parte de millonarias movidas inmobiliarias, en un país desarrollado que ha basado parte de su prosperidad económica en la construcción y negocios inmobiliarios; dentro de un sistema democrático que, en sus virtudes y defectos, aún no ha superado del todo las huellas de franquismo. Es por ello que propongo la imagen inconclusa, a través de árboles, del Edificio España y de la Torre Madrid, como iconos de un deseo y de un momento (fallido?) de la historia de la ciudad, unas torres que trataron infructuosamente de “ocultar” una realidad económica adversa y que, curiosamente, hoy conviven con una situación social y política velada, confusa y contradictoria ante la memoria de la dictadura española. Son por tanto dos situaciones veladas, en paralelo, que coexisten en la historia de la ciudad, y en la que estos edificios son protagonistas y testigos.

Selected Biographical Information

Education / Training

Universidad Central de Venezuela, Artes, Caracas, Venezuela.

Prizes / Fellowships

2012: Fundación Rockefeller, Bellagio, Italy.
2011: AICA, Artista de Proyección Internacional, Caracas, Venezuela.
2004: Premio, Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador.
2003: Becas Endesa, Museo de Teruel, Spain.
2003: I Premio, Jóvenes con FIA, Caracas, Venezuela.
2002: Casa de América, Madrid, Spain.
2000: I Premio, Jóvenes con FIA, Caracas, Venezuela.

Solo Exhibitions

2011: “Alexander Apóstol”, Centro de la Imagen, Lima, Peru.
2010: “Proyecto Vitrina”, (c. María Inés Rodríguez), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, MUSAC, Spain.
2007: “In Lieu of Modernity,” (c. José Luis Falconi), DRCLAS, David Rockefeller Center of Latinoamerican Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.
2006: “Recent Works”, (c. Bill Kelley), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions LACE, Los Angeles, USA.
2006: “Moderno salvaje”, (c. Cecilia Fajardo-Hill), Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation CIFO, Miami, USA.
2006: “Soy la ciudad”, (c. Iván de La Nuez), Palau de La Virreina (La Capella), Barcelona, Spain.
2004: “Caracas Suite”, Sala Mendoza, Fundacion Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
2003: “Residente Pulido/Fontainbleau”, PHotoEspaña ’03, Casa de America, Madrid, Spain.
1997/98: “Pasatiempos”, Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, USA / Thomas Cohn Arte Contemporanea, SP/Rio, Brazil / Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
1994: “Gallinero feroz”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Sofía Imber, Caracas, Venezuela.

Group Exhibitions

2012: Manifesta 9, (c. Cuauhtémoc Medina), Limburg, Belgium.
2011: 54th Venice Biennale, Arsenale, Venice, Italy.
2011: “The End of the Money“, (c. Juan Gaitan), Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
2010: “Photographic Typologies”, (c. Rachel Taylor), Tate Modern, London, UK.
2008: “Islands+Guettos”, (c. John Holten), Heildelberger Kunsverein, Heildebelg, Germany / NGBK Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany.
2004: VI Cuenca Painting Biennial, (curated by Maria E. Ramos), Cuenca, Ecuador.
2003: VIII Istanbul Biennial, “Poetic Justice”, (curated by Dan Cameron), Antrepo 4, Istanbul, Turkey.
2003: “Printemps de septembre, Gestes”, (curated by Marta Gili), L’espace EDF-Bazacle, Toulouse, France.
2002: XXV São Paulo Biennial, “Metropolitan Iconographies”, (c. Alfons Hug), Fundación Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil.
1997: VI Havana Biennial, (curated by Nelson Herrera Ysla), Castillo del Morro, Havana, Cuba.

Publications

2010: Alexander Apostol / Modernidad Tropical. Gonzalez, Julieta / Herreros, Juan / Medina, Cuauhtemoc. ACTAR, Barcelona / MUSAC, Leon, Spain.
2009-10: La Salvaje Revolucionaria en Horario Estelar. Apostol, Alexander. Con la colaboracion de Alberto Barrera, Adriana Bertorelli, Carolina Espada, Lupe Gehrenbeck, Boris Izaguirre, Julio2
César Mármol, Xiomara Moreno, Elio Palencia, Iraida Tapias, Javier Vidal, Luis Zelkowicz y Alvaro Sotillo. Trienal Poligrafica de San Juan. San Juan, Puerto Rico / Fundación para la Cultura Urbana. Caracas, Venezuela. / Harvard University. Cambridge, USA.
2010: The Digital Eye. The Photographic Art in the Electronic Age. Wolf, Sylvia. Prestel Publishing. NY, USA.
2010: Contemporary Art in Latinoamerican. Artworld serie. Camnitzer, Luis/ Medina, Cuauhtemoc / Mosquera, Gerardo/ Perez-Barreiro, Gabriel. Black Dog Publishing. London, UK.
2009: Fotografica urbana Venezolana, 1850-2009. Niño, William / Szinetar, Vasco / Muñoz, Boris. Fundación para la Cultura Urbana. Caracas, Venezuela.
2008: Revisiting the Glass House Contemporary Art and Modern Architecture. Houg, Jessica / Ramierz-Montagut, Mónica. Yale University Press. CT, USA.
2008: No sabe / no contesta. Alonso, Rodrigo. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2008: 100 Artistas Latinoamericanos. Olivares, Rosa. Exit. Madrid. Spain.
2006: Arte Contemporaneo de Venezuela. Gonzalez, Julieta / Fuenmayor, Jesús. Francisco Villanueva Ed., Dulce Gómez Ed. Caracas, Venezuela.
2006: Vitamin PH. Gregos, Katerina. Phaidon Press Limited. London, UK.
2006: A Principality of its Own. Falconi, José Luis / Rangel, Gabriela. Americas Society / Harvard University Press. USA.
2005: Art & Photography Now. Bright, Susan. Thames & Hudson. London, UK.
2003: Mapas abiertos, Fotografía Latinoamericana 91-02. Castellote, Alejandro / Molina, Juan Antonio / De la Nuez, Ivan. Lunverg Editores. Madrid. Spain.
2003: Digital Art. Paul, Christiane. Thames & Hudson. London, UK.
2003: Fotociudad. Ramos, Maria Elena. Cantv. Caracas, Venezuela.
2002: Blink. 100 Photographers /10 Curators/10 Writers. Phaidon Press Limited. London, UK.
2001: Fotografia en Venezuela, 1960-2000. Palenzuela, Juan Carlos. Movilnet. Caracas, Venezuela.
1997: Image a Memory. Photography from Latin America, 1866-1994. Castro, Fernando. / Kossoy B./ Parkinson L. UT Press. Houston, Texas. USA.

Collections

Tate Modern, London, UK.
Fundación Cisneros, Caracas, Venezuela.
Centre Pompidou, París, France.
Daros – Latin America, Zurich, Switzerland.
Perez Art Museum Miami, USA.
MUSAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain.
Getty Research Institute, Getty Center, Los Angeles, USA.
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, USA.
Fundación ARCO, Madrid, Spain.
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Venezuela.
Fundación Banco Mercantil, Caracas, Venezuela.
Comunidad de Madrid, Spain.
Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica.
The Alkazi Collection of Photography, Nueva York, USA.
Museo de Arte Moderno de Cuenca, Ecuador.
Fundación Endesa / Museo de Teruel, Teruel, Spain.
Fundación para la Cultura Urbana, Caracas, Venezuela.
MNBA Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela.
Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, USA.
El Museo del Barrio, Nueva York, USA.

: Alexander Apóstol, “Los Cuatro Jinetes”, 2005-2008, Series: Moderno Salvaje, Video HD 8 min aprox. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “# 1”, 2005, Series: Le Corbusier quemado en Bogotá, Digital Photo, 100 x 120 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “# 6”, 2005, Series: Le Corbusier quemado en Bogotá, Digital Photo, 100 x 120 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “# 3”, 2005, Series: Skeleton Coast, Digital Photo, 75 x 100 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apostol, “Limoges”, 2001, Series: Residente Pulido, Digital Photo, 200 x 150 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “Meissen”, 2001, Series: Residente Pulido, Digital Photo, 200 x 150 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “# 4”, 2003, Series: Residente Pulido. Ranchos, Digital Photo, 200 x 150 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “# 6”, 2003, Series: Residente Pulido. Ranchos, Digital Photo, 200 x 150 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “Av. Libertador”, 2006, Video 4 min. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “Contrato Colectivo Cromosaturado”, 2012, Video HD. 3 channels. 54 min. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “Contrato Colectivo Cromosaturado”, 2012, Video HD. 3 channels. 54 min. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apostol, “Contrato Colectivo Cromosaturado”, 2012, Video HD. 3 channels. 54 min. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “Contrato Colectivo Cromosaturado”, 2012, Video HD. 3 channels. 54 min. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “Grupo”, 2014, Series: Ideología del Color, Digital Photo, Variable Dimensions. Image courtesy of the artist.

: Alexander Apóstol, “La salvaje Revolucionaria en Horario Estelar”, 2009, Artist Book, 28 x 21 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Artists

October 4, 2013