English Press Release
Press release.
As an intercultural exchange between Madrid and Hong Kong, a selection of the most interesting young artists of the Spanish capital scene will be shown at Para/site arts space during October. The exhibition which will be entitled Insert Coin; Spanish contemporary art, includes the works of artists of international recognition such as Mateo Maté, Josechu Dávila or Avelino Sala together with some younger artists whose international careers are starting to be known outside Spain.
The exhibition pretends to be a sample of the “what’s going on” in cotemporary cutting edge art of Madrid. The principal standard in the works at show is a concern for the relations between art and money in contemporary cultural production. Political and social critique orientated works of undefined assertion, set on the, now at crisis, urban landscape of the late capitalism.
The show will belong to the October Contemporary’09 events program, and will be held at Para/Site art space (G/F, 4, Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong). The entrance is free. Para/site is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 12h to 7h pm.
Insert Coin; Spanish contemporary art, through the work of nine Spanish artists, proposes contemplation on the actual mechanism of art production and on how those have an effect on artistic creation. The title already alludes to the market, art market in this case, as the trigger of the mechanism to start.
The intention is not as much to trace a map on the Spanish context as to show a group of creators that end up forming a context. A context, where discursive relations are established, to become an artistic landscape, and where the question of interrelation is position to the foreground.
Josechu Dávila (Madrid, Spain, 1966). His work of a defined conceptual character, deals with the concept of negation. Through different techniques of removal, cancelation or redundancy, the works often questions its own physicality and saleability.A project to spread the word of an anonymous woman in…, 2008/09/10 presented in this exhibition consists on a long period project that does exactly what its title describes in different places and through different installations. The piece has already been shown, and the message spread at Madrid, New York, Miami and will be in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Berlin and the Venice Biennale. La Más Bella (Pepe Murciego, Diego Ortiz) (Madrid, Spain, started at 1993). La Más Bella is a project for reflection, action and experimentation in modern art publishing that promotes and carries out artistic projects specifically conceived to be published through alternative channels to the conventional world of publishing. BolaBellaMatic, 2008, is a sphere shaped street vending machine (an ordinary object of Madrid landscape) that sells little objects inside plastic capsules. These little objects have been removed and replaced for original pieces created for this show by the same artists presented, and will be sold during the show for the price of the equivalent to one euro. Mateo Maté (Madrid, Spain, 1964). He is one of the most international and prominent artists in Spain today and whose works are included in some of the most important art collections of the world such as the Reína Sofía Museum of Modern Art (MNCARS). The installation and video piece; Thanks giving turkey, 2007, wittily portrays the humanity’s natural instinct for marking out terrain and defending it to the death, even if that territory is only a particular side of the bed. Hisae Ikenaga (México DF, México, 1977). The Madrid-based artist exhibits her work at Spain, France, México, Japan and U.S.A. She was grant with the Generación 2008 prize, award of utmost relevance in Spain’s contemporary art’s newcomers. From Remote Nº2, 2008, mimics an actual IKEA’s furniture guide, modified so that by the use of five specific IKEA chairs, one can build (and own) the artist’s piece, the guides are given for free. An example of the piece is present at the exhibition space to give physicality to the witty commentary. Karmelo Bermejo (Málaga, Spain, 1979). Is the “enfant terrible” of Spanish art. Lives and works between Madrid and Bilbao. Karmelo Bermejo has been granted with several prizes for the last five years and has participated in collective exhibitions together with names such as Sarah Lucas or Paul McCarthy. Booked. All the tickets of the 7:00 a.m. coach from Madrid to Bilbao were bought with public funds, for the purpose of it completing its route with no passengers on a week day, 2007, belongs to a series of pieces where public funds are wasted for apparently absurd ends. Fernando del Cubo (Madrid, Spain, 1967), Cubo has been a familiar figure in the alternative art venues of Spain since 1989. His work deals with social notions of pretentious and falseness, researches into the social gauges imposed by culture through the mass media. Misery Flea market, 2007, plays with the concept of artistic identity while mocking around with the city’s improvised illegal markets of cultural piracy. Other Spanish artists’ real works are base for the fake pieces at the supposed sale. Avelino Sala (Gijón, Spain, 1972), this multidisciplinary artist has whose autobiographical research comment’s on the contradictions inherent to the artist’s role in contemporary society. His work is a reflection of art in a double sense. Avelino Sala has exhibit extensively throughout the world and has participated in international events such as the Venice Biennale. Daniel Silvo (Cádiz, Spain, 1982), Has studied under teachers such as Katherina Sieverding, Maria Vedder or Jannis Kounellis. Has participated in international events like DiVa (NY), Dfoto (San Sebastian, Spain), ARCO (Madrid) or Frieze Art Fair (London). 4 ways to bend your money, 2009, plays with the double meaning that bend in Spanish has of to fold or to double, and consists in origami practice with bank notes so when manipulated by the artist its price raises.
