Biography
I was born in La Plata, 1967.
I developed studies at the National University of La Plata from where I got my degree in sculpture and Professor of Art History. I attended between 1995-96 the Barraca’s Workshop (sculpture, installation and objects) directed by Luis F. Benedit and Pablo Suarez with the support of the Antorchas Foundation. This same Foundation supported my work experience in the Master in Design and Bionics, Centro di Ricerche Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, Italy, as well as the residence for 1998-1999 at Delfina Studio Trust, London. In 2000 I received a scholarship from Medici Foundation to participate in the Artists in Residence Ateliers Duende, Rotterdam and through an ex-changed programme with EEUU held by the Recoleta Cultural Centre I got an opportunity that allowed me to work at Columbus College of Art and Design (Ohio) in Blown Glass, this experience that begun years before with the artist Pino Signoretto in Murano Venice.
I received the following awards: First Prize of Young Art Biennale, sculpture section. Acquisition Regional Award in the section of sculpture and the Argentino Visual Arts Prize, Osde Foundation.
Among my individual exhibitions can be highlighted "Argentina Arcadia", with Millan at Spanierman Gallery, New York, USA. "Gardens and Gardens" morning, noon and night, Contemporary Art. "Stories of the Cartoons" Macaya & Suarez Battan. "City Bell" Luisa Pedrouzo Gallery. "Bat" Maria Cilena Gallery, Milan Italy. "Move in" Islas Malvinas Cultural Centre, La Plata. "Sculpture and Objects" Alberto Elia Gallery.
You can find bibliographical references of my work in "The Argentine Artists of the 90s" published by the National Endowment for the Arts. Catalog "Alberto Elia Collection - Mario Robirosa" "One moment in Argentine art," Catalog of the Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rosario, "Four centuries of history (1600-2000)" Jorge Lopez Anaya, 2005, edited by Emece Art.
Currently I live and work at Villa Elisa, La Plata, where in addition to my personal work I teach.
Vision of art
1. Choose a work that represents you, describe it in relation to its format and materiality, its relation with time and space, its style and theme; detail its production process.
I find it difficult to choose one work to represent me without before pointing out that, for being thought and made out of all the questions and wishes of an specific time, every single work represents “that” particular moment of the production process. On the other hand, I do not believe that the ideas that one works with are too many, instead I believe that they are just a few and they are constantly re visited from different angles. I will choose “Move in”, an exhibition that took place at the Malvinas Cultural Centre of La Plata. This work is related to a number of coincidences and identifications that took place around Julio Cortazar’s tale “Letter to a woman that lives in Paris”. The work consists of 16 black and white photographs each one of 0,22 X 0,33 mts. These photos tell the story, in sequence, of a woman who moves from home, maybe for a voyage, she has a strange disease and occasionally vomits things that are hard to recognize. All photos were posted on black boards of a particular structure, suggesting a forced perspective. The works are aligned like a frieze, reinforcing the sense of sequence and are located at 1.25mts from the soil line. Lighting is addressed directly on photos. The formats of the photos are rectangular, horizontally located, excluding the first and last photos which have been copied in a vertical. Isolated from the rest of the sequence, but acting as a closure of the proposal, there is a polyester resin rabbit painted matt white, enclosed in an acrylic box. The rabbit works with an engine that allows it to move on top of the architecture of a house drawn in gray on a light blue background. The lighting is a directed agento light. The object is of 22 x 0.20 x 0.10 m. and the acrylic box is 1.20 x 0.80 x 0.25 m on a painted wood of 1.40 x 1 x 0.02 m. In "Move in" I felt interested to reflect on the observation of human behavior such as vomiting, highlighting its multiple implications and metaphors in the rabbit with the face of women as a synthesis of the narrative sequence. The relationship that came out between the work and the audience raised many questions in me, I had to be there everyday managing the moves of the rabbit through a remote control that I hide in a bunch of files that I used to hold. Many more questions and doubts raised and I reflected on how individual experiences had put on some collective resonances, even the way in which I gave to people and the places involved deserve a full separate description full of certainties.
2. In general terms, how would you suggest to approach your work?
In my work there is a strong perceptual element given by the way I work on the segments, ranging from the idea itself, through questions that have to do with his physical nature, different surfaces: glass, resin, metal, ink on paper, animation, video. I choose the material carefully to reinforce a particular sense, which allows me to experiment and invent freely. There are other levels of understanding that interest me even more, for instance: the observer as a subjective onlooker. I Attempt to take a critical look at the tradition of science and nature. Currently, within the latter, on the tradition of “landscape” techniques. Memories of places and situations can be perceived through my work, details, oral and visual memories, individual experiences are transformed into collective, but not intended to be definitive. There are works that I do very isolated while there are more complex projects that require the collaboration of many people, and that involves me intellectual, physical and emotionally different When both types of projects converge in the same work I enjoy it all passionately.
3. In reference to your work and your position in the national and international art fields, what tradition do you recognize yourself in? Who are your contemporary referents? What artists of previous generations are of interest to you?
Artists that interest me over time and whose worlds I enjoy following: Marina de Caro, Claudia Fontes, Paty Landen, Ernesto Ballesteros, Leonel Luna, Matias Duville, Gisela Bollini, Patricio Gil Flood, Pauline Silva, Paula Masarutti, Veronica Romano, Nahuel Vecino, Mariano Sardon, Liliana Porter and León Ferrari, Víctor Grippo and Pablo Suarez, tatata Benedit. Elba Bairon, Aili Chen. Internationally, Karen Kilimnik, Ilya Kabakov, Giuseppe Penone, Carsten Holler, Rosmarie Trockel, Vija Celmins, Francesca Woodman, Luigi Serafini. Also the works of landscape painters such as Constable or Turner or Caspar Friedrich Hokusai, and the scientific illustrators from the beginning of the century. References from literature are Cortázar, Borges, Tanizaki, Marosa di Giorgio, Kawabata and Silvina Ocampo among others.
4. Choose works or exhibitions from the last ten or fifteen years which in your opinion were very significant and explain why
A work that excites me and which I find incredibly proactive is "Portrait of Malenka Topiary in the Park" by Pablo Suarez (2003). Then, I rather talk about showings that suggest artistic paths, widen perspectives and approaches such as "Cromofagia" (2004) at the Borges Cultural Centre, The exhibition "Eight Paintings and an object" (2006) by Marcelo Pombo at Benzacar Gallery. The exhibition " I expose" by Eliana Heredia at 713 Contemporary Art. “Amores Posibles, 13 Rosarinos 7 ensayos"curated by Nancy Rojas Zabaleta Lab (2006). " The Ivy" by Ana Gallardo". “This is a trap" by Patricio Gil Flood. "Waters of March" by Marine de Caro at Sendros Gallery (2003). The Collective showing by Claudia Fontes (2003) at Luisa Pedrouzo, I think they are still thrilling. Those are free, honest, mysterious works. Some incomprehensible some clearly committed to the work and fortune of being an artist. I would also point some retrospectives like Grippo, Ferrari and Bony at the Malba because besides of allowing me to see these works all together, they let me visualize a process of a long and dispair period of time, establishing new dialogues. Some other times assembly did enhance the ties that differ or link the work with the time of its execution, still maintaining intelligence and continuous reflexivity
5. What tendencies or groupings from common elements do you see in argentine art of the last ten or fifteen years?
The only thing I would say is that in recent times the number of artists, dynamism and level of exchange has greatly increased within the local context. The possibility of dialogue is very important and sometimes I notice a lot of updated information on an international level but also some omission of local references, I'm not sure if it is due to modesty or ignorance.