Curated by Lara Balderrama and Jimena López
June 16 – July 30, 2016
The mere contemplation of art allows for its biased understanding; finding its meaning derives from a rather meticulous reflective process. When we encounter an artwork, it requires us to face it and immerse ourselves in the world it reveals. By allowing it to act upon us, that is, by experiencing the artwork with our entire body, is when its complete comprehension becomes possible. Thus, the distance between the piece and the viewer is minimized and the attention is turned from the object or the image to us. Following Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy, reflecting on art does not provide its truth, but that of the person experiencing it. The artist is thus perceived as a mediator and a critical agent that invites us to set out on a journey whose final destination is self-transformation.
On the journey, the tension of searching determines the movement. There’s a growing desire to liberate ourselves from everything we know to set forth on a new path to an uncertain territory. Through a reference to Mars, Bonachea’s work exhibits the displacement to areas or structures where we deposit our hope of finding something that will complete us. Once we have crossed the threshold, the only direction is forward. Oceguera offers us the map that will guide us; the lighthouse used in Ancient Egypt: the stars.
Imhauser explodes the void. We are expelled from an arid land to one where possibilities abound; the changing lines on a surface attacked by the light that leads us to an intimate projection of reality. Chaos becomes clarity. Rodrigo points out that the inevitable deterioration caused by movement is – ironically – what creates new orders. The hidden potential of our existence is uncovered; our consciousness and being are expanded. Merlini’s work represents the balance of forces; the harmony we achieve once the journey is complete.
The works that make up the group show Todo en Orden, demonstrate that to understand art, we must perceive, think, witness and feel in order to go from the unclear to the conceivable. It is a matter of letting the artwork act on its own, without interruptions; and when it is given total control, contrary to all belief, we finally manage to reach the desired place or state of transformation, intrinsic and personally logical.
Text by Lara Balderrama and Jimena López
James Bonachea
Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, 1977
The work of James Bonachea is characterized by the exploration of different means, each one adjusted and coupled to a context that has influenced in some way the creative process, using traditional art media such as drawing, objects, and others such as animation, installation and performance. Bonachea studied art in the School of Professional Arts Oscar Fernández Morera of Trinidad, Cuba. He concluded his studies in 2008 in the Institute of Art in Havana. He lives and works in Mexico City.
Joseph Imhauser
Missouri, USA, 1981
The artworks and events of Joseph Imhauser use the structure of choice as a medium, creating platforms that welcome chance to heighten the state of poetics causing definitions to become malleable. He has received awards from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation’s YoYoYo Initiative for Lyeberry in 2014 and the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation Fellowship in 2013. Recent exhibitions and performances include Rican/Struction: Abraham Cruzvillegas & Amigos in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Anti-Aufklärung in Paris, France, and Exit: Cartographia de la Creatividad at the Museum of Art in Sinaloa, Mexico.
Martina Merlini
Bologna, Italy, 1986
Martina Merlini is an artist with figurative roots as an illustrator. She currently resides and works in Milan where she also obtained her degree at the European Institute of Design. Her work is known for being in constant evolution. Starting with illustrations, she explored new techniques and materials that are all reflective of her search for a formal balance and geometrical harmony. During last years she developed and perfected her own technique using wax and enamel, trying to define a rawness that reminds the typical casualty of nature, and yet the invisible rules that flow through it. Merlini’s work has been exhibited across Europe and the US.
Lucía Oceguera
Culiacán, Mexico, 1983
Lucía Oceguera is an experimental artist interested in the incorporation of mobile technologies and creative labor. She translates photographs taken with her cellphone into serigraphies, ones that are later intervened with oil painting or with embroidery. She also works with found objects, painting, sculpture and installation; projects with which Oceguera aims to revive the cotidianity with an intriguing, critic and comic twist. Oceguera has worked in Production Design for television and Art Direction for films and music videos. In 2010 Lucía was accepted to the Master in Fine Arts in the Pratt Institute in New York, where she was worthy of a scholarship for academic merit and from which she graduated with honors. In 2015, she made a residency at Slade School of Arts and Camden Center of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited in the United States, The United Kingdom and Mexico; as well as in several art fairs such as Masterpiece London, PAD Paris and Zona Maco Mexico.
Camila Rodrigo
Lima, Perú, 1983
Camila Rodrigo studied Photography at the Image Center in Lima, Peru. In 2009, she began a Master in Photography and Visual Arts at the Naba University in Milan, Italy. In 2010 she was elected as part of Regeneration: 70 best young photographers around the world, created by the Musée de l´Elysee in Lausanne, and later she was a finalist in the Lacoste Elyseé Prize. In 2014, she started the Master Mal de Foco: Fotografía Latinoamericana at the Image Center in Peru. Her projects have been exhibited in Arles, Amsterdam, Argentina, Chile, Barcelona, London, Lausanne, Lima, Milan, Miami, New York, Ping Yao, Rusia, among others.