Carlos De los Ríos
10 Sep - 29 Oct 2011
CARLOS DE LOS RÍOS
Taming – The Carrion of the Animal Tamer
10 September - 29 October, 2011
After the summer break the Gallery Stephanie Bender starts with a solo exhibition of the Colombian-German artist Carlos De los Ríos (*1974 Bogotá, Colombia).
Under the title “Taming – The Carrion of the Animal Tamer” Carlos De los Ríos – this is his third solo exhibition at Stephanie Bender’s – attracts the visitors once again to join his world of bizarre imagery.
As usual, the title of the exhibition is its programme, also visualized on the invitation: the artist as the tamer of a lioness. To tame something or someone requires an act of surrender, of defeat. A lion tamer tempts (and deceives) the animal with bait; in this respect the ambiguous title of the exhibition opens up further levels of association. Taming is a process that can be transferred to a number of areas in life: to the individual sphere as well as to developments in society and in art. However, who is being tamed: the art or the artist? Do they tame each other? Are they both undefeatable?
A drawing as such is an important and immediate artistic source of expression. The figure of the lion tamer served Carlos De los Ríos as an allegoric way into exploring the question whether and how far a graphic ease can be transferred into painting.
Whereas the rather bucolic but surreal imagery of his last Munich exhibition still showed a clear perspective, his new paintings seem to open up various dimensions simultaneously.
The specific and concrete sense of space is turning into an atmospheric meta-space which is not defined clearly any longer. Drawing, graphic elements and painting get connected dynamically. The directness of the drawing breaks up the painting.
The power of the whirling figures and elements that we know from his earlier paintings is still the same: a predator-like figure setting out to jump daringly into a deeper level of the picture as through a hoop; the lion tamer under whose hat covering half his face his body seems to dissolve as if by magic: those powerful images are pulling at us, captivating our imagination as with children in the ring. Carlos De los Ríos, tamer of colours and shapes, forms the space of his canvas according to his wishes – that there remains some savagery which cannot be controlled is to be expected.
Anna Wondrak M.A. (München, August 2011)
Taming – The Carrion of the Animal Tamer
10 September - 29 October, 2011
After the summer break the Gallery Stephanie Bender starts with a solo exhibition of the Colombian-German artist Carlos De los Ríos (*1974 Bogotá, Colombia).
Under the title “Taming – The Carrion of the Animal Tamer” Carlos De los Ríos – this is his third solo exhibition at Stephanie Bender’s – attracts the visitors once again to join his world of bizarre imagery.
As usual, the title of the exhibition is its programme, also visualized on the invitation: the artist as the tamer of a lioness. To tame something or someone requires an act of surrender, of defeat. A lion tamer tempts (and deceives) the animal with bait; in this respect the ambiguous title of the exhibition opens up further levels of association. Taming is a process that can be transferred to a number of areas in life: to the individual sphere as well as to developments in society and in art. However, who is being tamed: the art or the artist? Do they tame each other? Are they both undefeatable?
A drawing as such is an important and immediate artistic source of expression. The figure of the lion tamer served Carlos De los Ríos as an allegoric way into exploring the question whether and how far a graphic ease can be transferred into painting.
Whereas the rather bucolic but surreal imagery of his last Munich exhibition still showed a clear perspective, his new paintings seem to open up various dimensions simultaneously.
The specific and concrete sense of space is turning into an atmospheric meta-space which is not defined clearly any longer. Drawing, graphic elements and painting get connected dynamically. The directness of the drawing breaks up the painting.
The power of the whirling figures and elements that we know from his earlier paintings is still the same: a predator-like figure setting out to jump daringly into a deeper level of the picture as through a hoop; the lion tamer under whose hat covering half his face his body seems to dissolve as if by magic: those powerful images are pulling at us, captivating our imagination as with children in the ring. Carlos De los Ríos, tamer of colours and shapes, forms the space of his canvas according to his wishes – that there remains some savagery which cannot be controlled is to be expected.
Anna Wondrak M.A. (München, August 2011)