Lo Material No Cuenta
14 Dec 2006 - 26 Jan 2007
"LO MATERIAL NO CUENTA"
Sergio Avello
Eloisa Cartonera
Mariana Ferrari
Sebastián Gordín
Guillermo Iuso
Fabio Kacero
Mondongo
Sandro Pereira
Alfredo Prior
I think it could be argued that much Argentinean work of the 90s deals with areas that might well be labelled postmodern lite - a poetics that engages surface through the all too common rhetorical figures of parody, irony and pastiche and through a perverse poetry that is based on a recycling of materials and a quickness of innovative communication. Yet this is only part of the story, as inevitably is the case with all massive generalizations. Argentinean art since the nineties has shown a fecund opening of the field. It is often cool, laid-back, and acerbic. It may or may not have lost all its beliefs but it has learnt how to survive with a mordant and cynical smile. It is interrogative and imaginative. One only has to think of Piombo, Macchi, Constantino, or Siquier to sense the range of what is being offered: Macchi ́s astute conceptual play; Siquier ́s black and white abstractions that exploited the architectural elements of buildings that had been used for torture during the dictatorship; Constantino ́s friezes with their multiple layers of meaning that combine a critique of the murderous cruelties of the dictatorship with a poetic and highly personal meditation on the sweetness of death, along with an evident reference to the emblematic symbol – meat - that serves as the motor of the Argentinean economy; and Piombo ́s anarchical inventiveness and lyrically perverse poetics.
I recall Frank O’Hara saying that the surface can be an interesting place to be and some Argentinean artists effectively skate their pirouettes upon. Learn how to dance and you learn how to survive! Yet, the artists I have chosen for this small collective opt for different directions, for a generously plural living: Sergio Avello, Eloisa Cartonera, Mariana Ferrari, Sebastián Gordín, Guillermo Iuso, Fabio Kacero, Mondongo, Sandro Pereira and Alfredo Prior. They are mostly friends who talk to each other. I realize that such simply human inclinations are not theoretically a justification for bringing them together but it has assured a certain sense of ease, a climate of open dialogue and companionship.
Kevin Power
An extract from his introduction to Lo Material no Cuenta
© Sergio Avello
Argentina, quien te quiere quien te usa, 2006
Synthetic leather
130 x 250 cm.
Sergio Avello
Eloisa Cartonera
Mariana Ferrari
Sebastián Gordín
Guillermo Iuso
Fabio Kacero
Mondongo
Sandro Pereira
Alfredo Prior
I think it could be argued that much Argentinean work of the 90s deals with areas that might well be labelled postmodern lite - a poetics that engages surface through the all too common rhetorical figures of parody, irony and pastiche and through a perverse poetry that is based on a recycling of materials and a quickness of innovative communication. Yet this is only part of the story, as inevitably is the case with all massive generalizations. Argentinean art since the nineties has shown a fecund opening of the field. It is often cool, laid-back, and acerbic. It may or may not have lost all its beliefs but it has learnt how to survive with a mordant and cynical smile. It is interrogative and imaginative. One only has to think of Piombo, Macchi, Constantino, or Siquier to sense the range of what is being offered: Macchi ́s astute conceptual play; Siquier ́s black and white abstractions that exploited the architectural elements of buildings that had been used for torture during the dictatorship; Constantino ́s friezes with their multiple layers of meaning that combine a critique of the murderous cruelties of the dictatorship with a poetic and highly personal meditation on the sweetness of death, along with an evident reference to the emblematic symbol – meat - that serves as the motor of the Argentinean economy; and Piombo ́s anarchical inventiveness and lyrically perverse poetics.
I recall Frank O’Hara saying that the surface can be an interesting place to be and some Argentinean artists effectively skate their pirouettes upon. Learn how to dance and you learn how to survive! Yet, the artists I have chosen for this small collective opt for different directions, for a generously plural living: Sergio Avello, Eloisa Cartonera, Mariana Ferrari, Sebastián Gordín, Guillermo Iuso, Fabio Kacero, Mondongo, Sandro Pereira and Alfredo Prior. They are mostly friends who talk to each other. I realize that such simply human inclinations are not theoretically a justification for bringing them together but it has assured a certain sense of ease, a climate of open dialogue and companionship.
Kevin Power
An extract from his introduction to Lo Material no Cuenta
© Sergio Avello
Argentina, quien te quiere quien te usa, 2006
Synthetic leather
130 x 250 cm.