MAP Office
27 Apr - 15 Jun 2013
© Map Office
Concrete Jungle 8, 2013(2007)
C-print on Metalic Kodac paper, mounted on dibond, aluminum frame
150x120cm
ed. of 5, AP
Concrete Jungle 8, 2013(2007)
C-print on Metalic Kodac paper, mounted on dibond, aluminum frame
150x120cm
ed. of 5, AP
MAP OFFICE
The Golden Age
27 April – 15 June 2013
In recent year's, MAP Office's work explored domestication through a variety of subjects including theme of island, jungle, agriculture and nature. In their approach, the devious relationship between humans and the natural environment is changing its original value with sets of actions: seeding, planting, cutting, manipulating, grafting, and painting. In this process, repetition or the "re-" is a continuous effort to fabricate, re-produce and control nature.Comprising mixed-media works, the exhibition is inspired by a citation by Jean- Jacques Rousseau in Claude Levi-Strauss's TristesTropiques (The Sad Tropics). This statement questions the idea of value in a more and more artificial environment.
"The Golden Age" is a concentrated exhibition showcasing MAP Office's newest production of Concrete Jungle and related sculptures Cosmetic Bonsai, using trees as a base for further artistic composition. Shifting the old ideas of "natural" romanticism in Europe and "tropicalism" in Latin America, the artist converts into a beauty alchemist. A series of jungle graffiti on photographs and painted devitalized bonsai are enhancing an already superficial reality. Pedestals and mirrors complete the installation as structures of power and beauty.
This gallery exhibition of new works coincides with the artist's solo exhibition: "The Oven of Straw," on view at the UCCA through 16 June 2013.
About MAP Office
MAP Office is a multidisciplinary platform devised by Laurent Gutierrez (b. 1966, Casablanca, Morocco) and ValériePortefaix (b. 1969, Saint-Étienne, France). This duo of artists/architects has been based in Hong Kong since 1996, working on physical and imaginary territories using varied means of expression including drawing, photography, video, installations, performance, and literary and theoretical texts. Their entire project forms a critique of spatio-temporal anomalies and documents how human beings subvert and appropriate space. Humour, games and fiction are also part of their approach, in the form of small publications providing a further format for disseminating their work. Their cross-disciplinary practice has been the subject of a monograph, MAP OFFICE – Where the Map is the Territory (2011), edited by Robin Peckham and published by Office for Discourse Engineering (ODE - Beijing)
The Golden Age
27 April – 15 June 2013
In recent year's, MAP Office's work explored domestication through a variety of subjects including theme of island, jungle, agriculture and nature. In their approach, the devious relationship between humans and the natural environment is changing its original value with sets of actions: seeding, planting, cutting, manipulating, grafting, and painting. In this process, repetition or the "re-" is a continuous effort to fabricate, re-produce and control nature.Comprising mixed-media works, the exhibition is inspired by a citation by Jean- Jacques Rousseau in Claude Levi-Strauss's TristesTropiques (The Sad Tropics). This statement questions the idea of value in a more and more artificial environment.
"The Golden Age" is a concentrated exhibition showcasing MAP Office's newest production of Concrete Jungle and related sculptures Cosmetic Bonsai, using trees as a base for further artistic composition. Shifting the old ideas of "natural" romanticism in Europe and "tropicalism" in Latin America, the artist converts into a beauty alchemist. A series of jungle graffiti on photographs and painted devitalized bonsai are enhancing an already superficial reality. Pedestals and mirrors complete the installation as structures of power and beauty.
This gallery exhibition of new works coincides with the artist's solo exhibition: "The Oven of Straw," on view at the UCCA through 16 June 2013.
About MAP Office
MAP Office is a multidisciplinary platform devised by Laurent Gutierrez (b. 1966, Casablanca, Morocco) and ValériePortefaix (b. 1969, Saint-Étienne, France). This duo of artists/architects has been based in Hong Kong since 1996, working on physical and imaginary territories using varied means of expression including drawing, photography, video, installations, performance, and literary and theoretical texts. Their entire project forms a critique of spatio-temporal anomalies and documents how human beings subvert and appropriate space. Humour, games and fiction are also part of their approach, in the form of small publications providing a further format for disseminating their work. Their cross-disciplinary practice has been the subject of a monograph, MAP OFFICE – Where the Map is the Territory (2011), edited by Robin Peckham and published by Office for Discourse Engineering (ODE - Beijing)