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Wilfredo Prieto
Leaving Something to
Chance
October 4–November 11, 2012
Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros – La Tallera
Tres
Picos 29, Colonia Polanco
Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, Distrito
Federal
México, 11560
T 55 55313394 / 55 52035888
www.saps-latallera.org
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Leaving Something to Chance (2012), a project by artist
Wilfredo Prieto (b. 1978, Cuba), explores the possibilities of an
accelerated creative process. The project is an exercise in which the
traditional roles of the museum are challenged to alter the politics of
production. Prieto moved his workshop to one of the galleries of the Sala
de Arte Público Siqueiros (SAPS) but works without the direct
intervention of a "curator" to make art works daily. At the museum, all
professionals can become an active participant of the artist´s work,
while in another gallery, a new piece is exhibited every day of the week.
Others are openly involved in the artist's practice, suggesting how the
construction of art requires a collective negotiation.
By
exhibiting different projects daily, Leaving Something to Chance
pushes artistic and museological discourses to their limits. The
institutional apparatus also accelerates its processes to produce multiple
art works and respond to the demands of public relations and reception.
Testing the critical and entrepreneurial aspects of the curatorial
practice, the artworks are exhibited daily at 6pm within the formalities of
a museum reception. Furthermore, Prieto's project provokes a refreshing
dialogue with David Alfaro Siqueiros's concept of "controlled accident."
Once an active studio-home, the museum was a factory where Siqueiros tested
his pictorial concepts constantly.
In order to question the
ontological character of art, in Leaving Something to
Chance ,an error can lead to an aesthetic accident that produces
more than one conceptual interpretation. Still Life with a Half Ton of
Cold, Eighteen Song by Barbra Streisand, Eight-hundred Grams of
Blackberries, Two Perfume Bottles and a View of the Garden of the Austrian
Embassy (2012), presented on October 18th, studies the composition of
a contemporary still life. The piece is made of what is stated in its
title. The house of the Austrian ambassador is located right next to the
SAPS. With a nostalgic tone, the allegorical symbolism relating to the
scents of the perfumes and the romantic songs intertwine with a possible
political signification regarding to the cold gallery space and a view to
"Austrian soil," creating a satire of the attempt towards realism.
Presented on October 19th, Illuminated Stone and Unlit
Stone (2012) takes advantage of the subtlety of light to provide
a sculptural narrative through two solid stones, one illuminated by museum
lighting, the other kept in the dark. From a distance, the viewer can
appreciate how the darkened and lit areas of the gallery also become part
of the sculptural gesture. Prieto has managed to resignify how a formally
aesthetic analysis can result in a deeply political proposition that
provides the audience with a reflection of reality.
Internationally, Prieto's work is critically acclaimed for maintaining a
rigorous, thoughtful and provocative dialog on the formal and conceptual
aspects of artistic production. His gesture is subtle, cynical and
straightforward, but lacks bias towards materials and meanings. The
artist´s methodology illustrates a critical and refreshing point of
view, which partakes from everyday life, to take advantage of some of the
strategies of Postminimalism and Conceptualism.
Leaving
Something to Chance is also on view on www.saps-latallera.org/wilfredo.
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