ART-TRIBUTE:Space to Dream-Recent Art from South America,Part I
Presenting some of the most significant artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries, the exhibition “Space to Dream: Recent Art from South America” explores the rich diversity, innovation and significance of art from this region. Key figures from the late ‘60s and ‘70s, whose influence has been important, are introduced alongside a younger generation of artists from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay.We will present the exhibition in three parts, this is the Part I (Part II, Part III)
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Archive
Beginning from the position that art in South America is broadly rooted across ideas and forms, the exhibition “Space to Dream”, presents 98 works by 41 artists and collectives from across South America, divided in five themes: poetic sensibility, revolution and resistance, origins and intersections, memories and fractured histories. The exhibition suggests how artists see a social significance for their work and how as rebels and revolutionaries, dreamers and poets, they have challenged, embraced, explained or transformed their realities, lives, cultures and spaces. Whether conveying politics or poetry, the spiritual or the profane, art in recent decades in South America has been meaningful for offering generative spaces for reflection. Art taking a critical stance, encouraging social consciousness or documenting past revolutionary actions all signal the power to produce individual and collective agency. As well, the playful attitude of certain artists engenders insightful, embodied and non-hierarchical notions of culture. The mingling of indigenous and other cultures is expressed in ways that gives histories a currency. Colonial histories and personal memories connect in the work of Fernando Arias, while Eduardo Navarro’s bronze walnuts are like time capsules, forming pockets of memory created especially for rediscovery. Images and language are powerful forces that can increase meaning and alter assumptions. ‘Poetry’ feels ever-present in South America. From the anti-poetry of Nicanor Parra to the word play of Lenora de Barros and Juan Castillo, it exists in multiple art forms here. Today, life in South America is a fusion of multiple histories, traditions and influences. This blend of cultures, languages and different world perspectives is reflected in the work of many artists. As part of this blending, artists select and re-present iconic imagery from the past. In the process they create fresh meanings in different forms and ensure the continued visual presence of important historical material. Referencing work of indigenous makers or craftspeople and combining this with elements from popular culture breaks down the separation of the past and the present. These artists create a politically powerful mix of cultural forms that are linked across time and place. The exhibition offers a view into the way artists in South America engage with and influence contemporary life and culture. Whether conveying politics or poetry, the spiritual or the profane, recent art from South America offers a place for reflection. Through their work, artists have been able to take a critical stance, encourage social consciousness or document revolutionary actions, individually and collectively, they have demonstrated the power of art and artists to bring about change.
Info: Curators: Beatriz Bustos Oyanedel and Dr Zara Stanhope, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Corner Kitchener and Wellesley Streets, Auckland, Duration: 7/5-18/9/16, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-17:00, www.aucklandartgallery.com
