Fran Meana
30 Sep - 15 Nov 2008
FRAN MEANA
"notes for a domestic monumentality"
30.09.08> 15.11.08
NoguerasBlanchard is pleased to present notes for a domestic monumentality the first gallery exhibition of Fran Meana (Avilés, 1982). The artist sets off explosions of gold dust in an emotionally and visually compelling event that bears an aesthetic result in the form of “action sculptures”. This project, together with an installation, drawings and photographs, evolves from Meana’s long-standing interest in the logic of a pantheistic revolution as an artistic challenge.
On the (im)possiblity of a pantheistic guerrilla, gives title to a performance where a series of gold dust explosions tear the gallery walls. By what could be seen as a literal attack on the gallery space, the artist questions the traditional idea of redemption, and the capacity of a revolutionary process to achieve it. The dynamics of a revolution awaken sentiments such as fascination for breaking free from established order, the capacity for subversion and for radical and profound transformation. At the same time, it provokes a rejection of the violence inherent to revolutionary practices. Such acts of violence are occasionally endowed with a sacred character. Meana’s interest is centered on how, even though revolutions result in failed attempts and become rapidly absorbed into the mainstream, a brief moment of hope exists, where change appears to be a possiblity. By making the work on a gallery wall, in the ideologically charged space of the white cube, the institutionalized revolutionary act becomes a parody of itself, a kind of pseudo-revolution. The use of gold dust alludes to the sacred character that Meana bestows the artistic movements that managed to break through the limits of the museum, bringing art into the realm of everyday life.
The work You will return home under triumphal arches (2008) references how nations commemorate their History through the use of monuments. However we are surrounded by monuments which are estranged in their majority from their original function, turned into decoration or tourist attraction. Meana here builds the work inside the gallery; a triumphal arch made with cardboard boxes. The materials used and the home-made quality alludes to the fragility of collective symbols.
Meana’s proposals in this exhibition seek to generate the illusion of a possible reappropiation of symbols of power in order to subvert them. Stripped of their sacredness through a domestic treatment and ephemeral quality, he returns them to the everyday.
After graduating in Fine Arts from the University of Vigo, Meana currently lives in Barcelona. His recent exhibitions include 1 1 , Museo Abetlló, Mollet del Vallès, Barcelona (2008), Descarga Discográfica, Sala de Art Jove, Barcelona (2008), Proyecto de una contingencia, CGAC, Santiago de Compostela (2007), BAC07: Babylon, CCCB, Barcelona (2007).
"notes for a domestic monumentality"
30.09.08> 15.11.08
NoguerasBlanchard is pleased to present notes for a domestic monumentality the first gallery exhibition of Fran Meana (Avilés, 1982). The artist sets off explosions of gold dust in an emotionally and visually compelling event that bears an aesthetic result in the form of “action sculptures”. This project, together with an installation, drawings and photographs, evolves from Meana’s long-standing interest in the logic of a pantheistic revolution as an artistic challenge.
On the (im)possiblity of a pantheistic guerrilla, gives title to a performance where a series of gold dust explosions tear the gallery walls. By what could be seen as a literal attack on the gallery space, the artist questions the traditional idea of redemption, and the capacity of a revolutionary process to achieve it. The dynamics of a revolution awaken sentiments such as fascination for breaking free from established order, the capacity for subversion and for radical and profound transformation. At the same time, it provokes a rejection of the violence inherent to revolutionary practices. Such acts of violence are occasionally endowed with a sacred character. Meana’s interest is centered on how, even though revolutions result in failed attempts and become rapidly absorbed into the mainstream, a brief moment of hope exists, where change appears to be a possiblity. By making the work on a gallery wall, in the ideologically charged space of the white cube, the institutionalized revolutionary act becomes a parody of itself, a kind of pseudo-revolution. The use of gold dust alludes to the sacred character that Meana bestows the artistic movements that managed to break through the limits of the museum, bringing art into the realm of everyday life.
The work You will return home under triumphal arches (2008) references how nations commemorate their History through the use of monuments. However we are surrounded by monuments which are estranged in their majority from their original function, turned into decoration or tourist attraction. Meana here builds the work inside the gallery; a triumphal arch made with cardboard boxes. The materials used and the home-made quality alludes to the fragility of collective symbols.
Meana’s proposals in this exhibition seek to generate the illusion of a possible reappropiation of symbols of power in order to subvert them. Stripped of their sacredness through a domestic treatment and ephemeral quality, he returns them to the everyday.
After graduating in Fine Arts from the University of Vigo, Meana currently lives in Barcelona. His recent exhibitions include 1 1 , Museo Abetlló, Mollet del Vallès, Barcelona (2008), Descarga Discográfica, Sala de Art Jove, Barcelona (2008), Proyecto de una contingencia, CGAC, Santiago de Compostela (2007), BAC07: Babylon, CCCB, Barcelona (2007).