Abstraction in Action
Omar Barquet https://abstractioninaction.com/projects/omar-barquet-project/
Omar Barquet Night Tide
Pinta, NY
For the Abstraction in Action project commission at PINTA NY 2013, I proposed the creation of an ephemeral collage mural made with fragments of various failed tests of xylography, offset and photocopy prints, which were the result of several processes and treatments of digital and analog deterioration, providing a memory to these materials and emphasize the idea of interference. I find an interesting connection between the formal languages of Concretism and technical-scientific diagrams related to space, landscape, sound, time, and nature, as languages that take on abstraction, often with contradictory purposes, but from their intersections I saw the possibility of articulating different proposals with diverse mediums and focused on revising the dynamic landscape as a mental scene. Given the dimensions and duration of the commission, I considered that the project would function as an abstract composition which describes a sequence of changes in the pulsations of a night tide. The materials will be subjected to a process of graphic experimentation. The installation and de-installation of the stand will be extended as a circular process, generated from the fragmentation and rearticulation of three scientific encyclopedia’s back covers—their collage feel will be translated to the scale of the stand. — Omar Barquet
Para la comisión de un proyecto de Abstracción en Acción para Pinta NY 2013, propuse un collage mural efímero realizado con fragmentos de distintas pruebas fallidas de impresión en xilografía, offset y fotocopias resultantes de distintos procesos y tratamientos de desgaste, tanto digitales como analógicos, que otorgan una memoria sobre estos materiales y enfatizan la idea de interferencia.
Encuentro una interesante conexión entre los lenguajes formales del Concretismo y los esquemas técnicos de ciencia relativos a espacio, paisaje, sonido, tiempo y naturaleza, como lenguajes que asumen la abstracción con objetivos en muchas ocasiones contradictorios, pero que en cuyas intersecciones vi la posibilidad de articular distintas propuestas con medios igual- mente diversos y enfocadas a revisar el paisaje dinámico como escena mental.
Por las dimensiones y duración de la comisión, consideré que el proyecto funcionaría como una composición abstracta que des- cribe una secuencia de cambios en las pulsaciones de la marea nocturna. Los materiales serán sometidos a procesos de experimentación gráfica y todo el montaje y desmontaje del stand, será entendido como un proceso circular generado desde la fragmentación y rearticulación de tres contraportadas de una enciclopedia científica cuyo sentido de collage, será trasladado a la escala del stand. — Omar Barquet
January 2, 2014
The Wall Street Journal: Art Fair Riding Emerging Wave https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/wall-street-journal-art-fair-riding-emerging-wave/
Pinta NY’s chairman Diego Costa Peuser, right, and U.S. director, Ian Cofre, discuss Marta Chilindron‘s ‘Ring, 2013,’ which will be in the fair. Andrew Hinderaker for The Wall Street Journal
Pinta NY, Founded in 2007, Deals With a Much Expanded Latin American Art Market
When Diego Costa Peuser founded Pinta NY in 2007, it was credited with being New York’s first fair dedicated to Latin American modern and contemporary art, shining a spotlight on an emerging and relatively untapped body of work.
When the show opens for its seventh edition on Thursday at the 82Mercer Conference Center, it will do so in a much-changed field.”Ten years ago, there was no [Latin American] presence at fairs like Art Basel,” said Mr. Costa Peuser, the fair’s executive director. “Now, the presence of Latin American art is strong, and the U.S. and Europe are looking toward these emerging markets.” According to the analytics firm ArtTactic, Latin American art-auction sales in New York for the first half of this year totaled $37.3 million, up 2% from the year-earlier period. Pinta organizers expect some 18,000 guests, a far cry from the 2,000 they saw in its first year.
As such, Pinta has made several changes to its structure, including higher standards. About 60 galleries will be showing this year, out of the roughly 140 that applied.
“There is greater competition across fairs, and people seek out sectors where there’s something curated,” said Mr. Costa Peuser, who ran the arteaméricas fair in Miami before creating Pinta. “Collectors find having a filter for what they’ll see more interesting.”
He gave industry professionals like Ian Cofre, the fair’s U.S. director, and Octavio Zaya, who curated the Spanish pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, free rein to choose works they deemed interesting. For example, Mr. Zaya, who directed a segment of the show dedicated to video art, picked an installation by Richard Garet, who recently showed at the Museum of Modern Art’s sound-art exhibition.
But can Pinta compete in an increasingly hectic art calendar? It takes place less than a month before Art Basel Miami Beach, a major lure for Latin American collectors. Christie’s is also aiming to auction off more than 300 pieces of Latin American art at a sale dedicated to the region next week.
Mr. Costa Peuser is adamant Pinta can, pointing to the fair’s niche status as an attraction on its own part. “The public at Pinta is not the same as at Basel because it is a much smaller fair, and collectors can come and talk at length to gallerists and artists,” he said.
He added that “the relationship with the auction houses is complementary, and collectors can attend both with different expectations of what they’ll see.”
One person who hopes he’s right is Cecilia De Torres, whose eponymous SoHo gallery is selling works from the Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres García, such as “Anvers, 1910,” a haunting maritime oil-on-canvas painting, and rainbow-colored acrylic sculptures by Argentina’s Marta Chilindron.
“A lot of the artists I represent were either Europeans or the children of European immigrants,” said Ms. De Torres, “so I would love to see people who collect such art come and look at this different approach in the same tradition.”
Click here to read the article from The Wall Street Journal.
November 15, 2013
Ricardo Alcaide: Incidental Geometry https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/ricardo-alcaide-incidental-geometry/
Ricardo Alcaide, Untitled no. 4, 2011, high temperature glassed ceramic, 11.4 x 8.7 x 4.7 inches
Ricardo Alcaide: Incidental Geometry
October 31 – December 14, 2013 Josée Bienvenu Gallery
New York, NY, USA
Josée Bienvenu is pleased to present Incidental geometry, an exhibition by Ricardo Alcaide. In this project, Alcaide addresses his interest for geometric abstraction, modernist constructions, and social dynamics in urban centers. His new body of work oscillates between the poetic and the political, juxtaposing playful and stern elements.
In Intrusion, Alcaide conceptualizes aesthetics that refer to vernacular and modernist architecture, along with the geometric abstraction that marked his academic background. In this group of over painted images of Modern mid-century interiors, the geometrical shapes subtly deconstruct the carefully designed rooms. These incidental openings, thickly painted planes of colours, alter the dynamics of the interiors, invading the space and creating a new reality. Alcaide attempts to hinder the pictorial and symbolic reality of these immaculately designed spaces with a foreign and striking element which appears to be floating in the space like an abandoned shelter. A group of sculptures Fabric, Paper, Plastic, Book made of found and recycled materials finds temporary shelter on a metallic shelving structure which alludes to the city’s vertical and geometric urban landscape.
Ricardo Alcaide was born in 1967 in Caracas, Venezuela, he currently lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. Select solo exhibitions include: Una Forma De Desorden Invasivo, Galería Lucia de la Puente, Lima (2013);Intrusiones, Galería Tajamar, Santiago de Chile (2013); Prototipo Vernacular, Oficina #1, Caracas,Venezuela (2012); A Place To Hide, Baró Galería, São Paulo (2011). Select collections include: LIMAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima; Colección Fundación Cisneros, Caracas; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Venezuela; Galeria de Arte Nacional GAN, Caracas; Zabludowicz Collection, London.
Click here to view Ricardo Alcaide on Abstraction in Action.
November 14, 2013
Omar Barquet: Night Tide / Marea Nocturna https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/omar-barquet-night-tide-marea-nocturna/
Artist Rendering. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Omar Barquet: Night Tide / Marea Nocturna
November 14 – 17, 2013 PINTA New York
New York, NY, USA
For the Abstraction in Action project commission at PINTA NY 2013, I proposed the creation of an ephemeral collage mural made with fragments of various failed tests of xylography, offset and photocopy prints, which were the result of several processes and treatments of digital and analog deterioration, providing a memory to these materials and emphasize the idea of interference. I find an interesting connection between the formal languages of Concretism and technical-scientific diagrams related to space, landscape, sound, time, and nature, as languages that take on abstraction, often with contradictory purposes, but from their intersections I saw the possibility of articulating different proposals with diverse mediums and focused on revising the dynamic landscape as a mental scene.
Given the dimensions and duration of the commission, I considered that the project would function as an abstract composition which describes a sequence of changes in the pulsations of a night tide. The materials will be subjected to a process of graphic experimentation. The installation and de-installation of the stand will be extended as a circular process, generated from the fragmentation and rearticulation of three scientific encyclopedia’s back covers—their collage feel will be translated to the scale of the stand.
The site specific installation made with intervened encyclopedia covers by Omar Barquet will be on display at PINTA New York at PINTA Editions in the Abstraction in Action booth.
-Omar Barquet
Omar Barquet (Mexico, b. 1979) holds a degree in Fine Arts from the National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving “La Esmeralda” (INBA), Mexico City. He has exhibited in various national and international cities such as New York, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Lima, Miami, Basel and Mexico City. His artistic practice encompasses installations, collages, engravings, and other techniques. Barquet has had residencies in Brazil.
He set up the Second Floor Art Collective along with artists José Luis Landet, Moris and Agustín González. Selected exhibitions include 1st Fugue, Kunsthalle Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2013; Half Day Closing, Pinta Art Fair, NYC, 2012; XV Bienal de Pintura Rufino Tamayo, Museo Tamayo, Mexico, 2012, LAPSES, Hermés Store, Mexico, 2011. He lives and works in Mexico City.
Click here to view Omar Barquet on Abstraction in Action.