Noticias
Mexican artist, Demian Flores exhibits at Imane Fares gallery in Paris
December 08, 2015The Imane Farès gallery, located in Paris, France, exhibits since last December 3 until March 26, 2016, 45 pieces, 5 polychrome ceramics and 40 prints, by Mexican artist, Demián Flores Cortés.
The works are part of Miroir-effacement, this exhibition, curated by Gabriela Salgado, makes an analysis on the destruction of the cultural heritage of humanity as a result of wars, colonialism and intolerance.
"This is an exhibition in which three artists perform a visual dialogue, reflecting on the loss of our cultural memory. The works are testimony of how cultural and aesthetic codes reformulate themselves constantly", Demián Flores said in an interview with the National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA, for its contraction in Spanish).
The founder of the Cultural Center La Curtiduría, AC, and Taller Gráfica Actual of Oaxaca pointed out that the 45 pieces exhibited are part of the series Los desatres colaterales (Collateral disasters) made in 2010 with a scholarship from the National System of Creators.
Collateral disasters is a paraphrase of the monumental work of Francisco de Goya, Los desastres de la guerra (Disasters of war). The 40 prints that make up the exhibition are metaphorical and reflective images on the theme of violence that start from the visual testimony of Goya.
"On these prints I use gestural dramatization of the characters of Goya, full of symbols and references, responding personally to the current situation of violence we live", the artist born in Juchitan, Oaxaca, on March 13, 1971, explained.
According to the member (since 2010) of the National System of Creators of Fonca (for its acronym in Spanish), he creates dialogue between these works, in this case, five ceramics that establish connection with 40 prints on paper, which define his work: a comment about his reality.
"Today we live in a Mexico touched by a violence without reason, with a pained and hurt homeland, as a person living this reality and like Goya did, as a witness of our time, this set of prints, Los desatres colaterales (Collateral disasters) was formed. This series is supported by technical, thematic and formal descriptions of Goya's engravings identified in the catalog of the National Library of Spain. These descriptions, even over the years, are an analogy of our reality and a memorial to the victims of violence and contemporary wars”.
"The greatest cruelties that anyone could imagine are in Goya's series: rape, torture, executions, the wounded returned to be cannon fodder and collateral successive disasters of the conflict: hunger, disease, people dying in the street and indifference of those, facing such pain, they pass by. Goya was the witness of those conditions and did not hesitate to affirm: 'I saw it', he wrote under one of his prints and decided to take sides, not one side or another, but for the victims. "
The artist, who lives and works in Mexico City and Oaxaca, graduated in Visual Arts from the National School of Plastic Arts of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM for its acronym in spanish), said that he wants to pay special tribute to Spanish painter and printmaker, Francisco de Goya with these works.
"This is a project related to Goya's prints series, surely the most committed and important graphic material of the brilliant artist, undoubtedly one of the most decisive and influential in the creation of modern and contemporary art”.
"The project coincides with the second anniversary of the execution of this monumental work and can be considered a special tribute to Goya in this commemoration and as updated paraphrase of the central theme of this exceptional goyesco work: the irrational violence, its disasters and its terrible consequences."
The award-winning of Mentes Quo + Discovery: Vanguardia and Investment Project Production National Painting Prize given by Conaculta-INBA (2012), said that in addition to this exhibition, his work can be seen at Triangle Building Chelsea College of Arts, London, and at De Balie, Amsterdam.
"The first one is an over 30 meters mural made with the participation of students from the school, a graphic Tzompantli* showed on November 2 to celebrate the Day of the Dead”.
"I also participated in an interesting Dutch project called The Mexican Connection a few days ago. The event was focused on two main subjects: the freedom of expression in Mexico and the escalation of violence and organized crime that plague the country so the opening exhibition Motley Mexico was presented, within this framework, in De Balie. "
In addition to these exhibits, you can also see the work of Oaxacan artist through the exhibition Antropofagia (Cannibalism) in the Regional Museum of Laguna in Torreon, Coahuila, until March 2016.
Antropofagia is the second part of the trilogy La leyenda negra (Black legend) that the artist made with the scholarship from the National System of Creators. The work is related to the creation of Dutch artist Theodor de Bry.
"The exhibition shows 11 etchings made in the studio El Chanate de Torreón, Coahuila. These works are based on prints made by De Bry, member of the Protestant church, whose works describe the atrocities of the Iberian conquistadors in the American continent”.
"The violent images presented by De Bry were part of a political and religious struggle against the Spanish crown and its representation of indigenous life, which includes scenes of cannibalism, that responds to the stereotyped European vision of the new continent", explained Flores.
Finally, Demian Flores spoke about his next projects: the opening exhibition Los desastres colaterales (Collateral disasters) in Casa Redonda/ Museo Chihuahuense de Arte Contemporáneo (Chihuahuense Contemporary Art Museum) on December 5, in Chihuahua.
Also, his works will be on display in the exhibition Visiones de la Coatlicue (Visions Coatlicue) at the Exhibition Center of Mexico City International Airport, Terminal 1 on December 15.
The exhibit, made up of 11 medium and large format oil paintings, will travel the country later, with the support of CONACULTA (for its contraction in Spanish) and the INBA (for its acronym in Spanish), through the Coordinación Nacional de Artes Visuales (National Coordination of Visual Arts) and Casa Lamm.
Also, he will show creations from his recent work in the gallery of Casa Lamm in February 2016.
*Tzompantli: Altar built by some pre-Columbian cultures of ancient Mexico, with the base decorated with skulls carved in stone and stakes in the upper area to thread the head of the sacrified. (Translator’s Note)
Mexico,Distrito Federal
