TRAVELING CIRCUS 2013 / NUEVAS FUNDACIONES GROUP SHOW

dolls Circus traveling circus classic circus sculpture clowns masks Entertainer characters tod Browning Freaks

MARTIN MARGULIES FROM THE MARGULIES COLLECTION, MIAMI

BONNIE CLEARWATER CHIEF CURATOR OF NOVA MUSEUM FT LAUDERDALE.

NUEVAS FUNDACIONES (Group Show)
JEL MARTINEZ - MARIANA MONTEAGUDO - KIKI VALDES

In NUEVAS FUNDACIONES, artists Jel Martinez, Kiki Valdes, and Mariana Monteagudo each demonstrate degrees of creating physical embodiments of their own practices. Each communicates through their prime foundations of painting, sculpture, surface layering and color. Beyond various art making differences, there is an underlying aesthetic value each artist possesses that unifies their work in the white box.

Jel Martinez examines the buff, where different methods in which graffiti and tags are covered over imbue his paintings with everyday visual realities from the street. Working on wood panels in his studio he instinctively replicates what happens over the history of a public wall. The result is a figureless expressionism that communicates through a multilayered use of texture, color, and shape that both obscures and highlights his use of surfaces.

Kiki Valdes uses cartoon imagery as both a visual lure and guide, taking the viewer deeper into abstraction and communicating through overlapping colors and a transformative array of forms that reconcile recognizable popular imagery with post contemporary painting.

Mariana Monteagudo’s dolls evoke images of childhood innocence and horror films, while channeling her obsessive vision through an intelligent use of color and meticulous detail. The illusionist landscape created by her dolls is one in which color moves us from one doll to another. In doing so, the viewer absorbs abstracted images of dolls, with colorful familiar bodies, topped by expressive and invitingly disturbing heads.

Opens: Saturday, Sept. 28th 2013
Miami Art Space
6pm - 10pm
244 NW 35th Street.
Miami, FL. 33127

For press contact:

Lilian Mustelier
assistant@miamiironside.com

Learn more about the artists:

JelMartinez.com
MarianaMonteagudo.net
KikiValdes.com
MIamiArtSpace.com

KIKI VALDES

JEL MARTINEZ

INTERVIEW BY KIKI VALDES

2013

http://www.ownzee.com/search/page:2/s:mariana%20monteagudo

MARIANA MONTEAGUDO is a Miami based Venezuelan artist who has been working her series of doll sculptures over the last decade. Her latex, ceramic and mixed-media dolls are intriguing and fascinating. Her artwork shows interest in a wide range of expressions , from the pre-Columbian aesthetics, to fashion , tv pop culture, Japanese manga and mass-market toys. We had a chance to talk to her recently.

There is something sinister yet innocent about the doll sculptures you create. What do they mean to you?

They mean everything to me. I cannot conceive waking up without an idea of how I will improve a piece, or how what I do during the day will contribute to my work. At the beginning the doll was just a pretext, a way of expression; after 15 years I’ve discovered that it's much more than that. For me the image of the classic doll depicts an ideal of beauty and innocence of childhood, but is somehow an over-dimension of tenderness that often touches the monstrous. My characters are inspired in dolls, but at the end they are a reflection of human expressions and emotions. Is a subtle sense of palpitation what I am looking for; is the constant search of that “thing” you cannot quite explain with words.

What's the process of making them? How do you come up with the various expressions on the faces?

It starts with an inspiration, it can be virtually anything. I usually conceive a group of pieces as if it was a cast from a theater play; every character has a specific role in the story. For instance, this time I have been obsessed with the classic images of the circus and the 1930’s Tod Browning’s film “Freaks”. A heartbreaking story of the human dramas within a traveling circus. So my new group is taking a lot from this story, and from the circus world. I begin with a theme, a starting point; then it evolves by itself, opening new windows to other reflections and sources of inspirations.

Are you into toy collecting?

Oh yes, I love collecting dolls. In fact I could say that when it comes to my work, I have the personality of a collector. That pervasive feeling of nostalgia (and an obsessive sense of accumulation) of collectors permeates into my work.

What medium is one you would like to explore with your work that has not happened yet?

Inflatable sculptures, fiberglass, resin, bronze, so many things yet to explore.

Anything coming up?

Yes, a new exciting group of pieces. I am currently producing approximately 20 pieces for my representing gallery in Europe.

Lowest point in your art career was when?

When I moved to the US and had to figure out a new way to make my sculptures. It was hard to adapt myself to a whole new environment. It is not easy to get out of your comfort zone and start from square one. But ultimately everything is for a good reason, and an opportunity to open your mind to new things.

Highest point in your career so far has been?

It is hard to pinpoint a high point in my career. In some ways, I consider my work to be in constant evolution. So, every new set of pieces is a new highest point. But I guess that my 2 solo shows in Madrid in 2002 and 2004, and my participation in the 2010 Sao Paolo Art fair have a special place in my heart. You don’t get to be alongside with great contemporary masters like Damien Hirst, Vik Muniz or Joana Vasconcelos every day. Also I am very proud of being part of collections such as the MOLAA Museum of Latin American Art in California, the Everson Museum in New York, and The César Gaviria Trujillo collection (former President of Colombia and Secretary General of the Organization of American States).