20/02/2008

This year's ARCO, the 27th international contemporary art fair, was one of the biggest events in Madrid's agenda.
Brazil was the country invited. Interesting, that one group of Brazilian guestspeakers, Agnaldo Farias, Luis Camillo Osorio, and Moacir dos Anjos, all professors and researchers from capital cities in Brazil, gave a conference titled "What, after all, is Brazilian art?" the goal of which was to discuss: "in what way is it possible to speak of a national art in a world that is gradually promoting the end of rigid frontiers between diverse cultural expressions." I often think about identity, and it is a recurrent theme in a lot of people's work. Especially if you come from the "developing world." Here are my thoughts, unfortunately, there are still frontiers, and they are high and rigid... so it is nice when an art fair can bring awareness of another country's culture, because it always reflects the reality people are living in... Cheers to the Brazlilian galleries represented... Since ARCO is over, here are my final thoughts just to inspire you to go next year. My favourite gallery spaces were: Alexander and Bonin, i-20 gallery and the Korean Kukje Gallery. Korea was the country represented last year, and I love Korean art. It seems to treat the time gap, the mixture of tradition and modernity in a way that I can relate to, the idea of being between two worlds. The New York based i-20 has a lot of modern portraits, which I especially like. I don't know much about art, I just think there is nothing more interesting than a human face. And Carolyn Alexander of Alexander and Bonin is such a fascinating and interesting woman, and her choice of artists so humane, that she actually convinced me to buy my first work of art last year, a painting by Diango Hernández. Small painting, all I could afford, yet extremely moving, Diango mixed in the text "mother why is there no gold in my land"... This year Diango had veered from the beautiful aquarella like colours of last years work, and at ARCO he presented mostly sculptures. One particular sculpture was impressive, a table long structure of ink filled light bulbs... I can't describe it really, but I think the idea was to bring up the subject of empty words and ideas, wasted ink... I am not going to pretend to be an art critic in this travel log, I don't have the background for it. In an interview for Esmadrid tv last year, Carolyn explained that she chooses artists that have something to say to the world. Having been in the art world in New York since the ´70s, she actually is someone who knows a thing or two about art. And for me it was lovely to meet someone so experienced who is interested in art that can do something to change the world, or at least wake it up. When I asked her: what is art, she answered: whatever you think is art, is art. I think that's a good enough reason to go to an art fair, just to think about what is art for you.
So even though ARCO is over for this year, there are a couple more exhibits in the city that you can check out to explore your relationship with art. Modigliani y su tiempo is a showcase of the master's work currently on display at the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza. You can trace the artist's influence in works by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso. At the beginning of World War I, Modigliani changed from sculpture to painting portraits, the difficulty of finding stone and his allergy to the process were to blame, but if you spend some time looking at the portraits in this exhibit, like his 1919 self-portrait, the one of Juan Gris, or Kiki de Montparnasse con vestido rojo; it is difficult to imagine that the artist was not destined to explore this venue.
Another exhibition not to miss these days in Madrid is the one on Picasso at the National Museum "Centro de Arte Reina Sofía." Added to the Reina Sofia's permanent Picasso collection are works borrowed from the Musee Picasso in Paris. I used to live right across the museum in the Marais, I lived in rue Vieille du Temple. I often visited the museum feeling nostalgic for the Reina Sofia. Now to have the two collections joined in one space is interesting for me, kind of like coming full circle. You might think it's silly for me to talk about one of the greatest artists of our time's exhibit in relation to myself, almost a delirious case of self-reference. Sure, the exhibit is amazing because you see that Picasso treated everything, painting, sculpture, even ceramics, with hard work and respect. The exhibit is amazing because Picasso transformed so many times, broke his own molds so many times, and inspired the world so many times, it is always surprising to think of it. But in the end, none of it matters, if it doesn't mean anything to you. That's a daring statement isn't it? Come on, join me in the feverish delusion of self-reference, and go out into Madrid these days, check out the art exhibits and dare to decide for yourself what is art and what isn't.