Juan Manuel Echavarria
dal 18/1/2006 al 24/2/2006
Segnalato da
18/1/2006
Juan Manuel Echavarria
Josee Bienvenu Gallery, New York
The artist's work has been exhibited extensively through Latin America and the United States. Retratos (Portraits) is a series of photographs of broken and dilapidated mannequins standing on the sidewalk near clothing stores. El Testigo (The Witness), is a black and white photograph of a white horse.
The Witness
curated by Ana Tiscornia for the EC Group
Josee Bienvenu Gallery is pleased to present The Witness, an exhibition
of photographs and videos by Juan Manuel Echavarri'a. Born in Medelli'n,
Colombia, he lives and works in New York and Bogota'. The exhibition
presents a selection of works from 1996 to 2004. Juan Manuel
Echavarria's work has been exhibited extensively through Latin America
and the United States, recent exhibitions include: Latin American
Pavilion, Venice Biennial, 2005; Documentary Fortnight, Museum of Modern
Art, New York, 2005; Mouth of Ash, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand
Forks, ND, 2005; Cantos Cuentos Colombianos, Daros-Latin America,
Zurich, 2005.
The current conflicts between the army, the guerillas and paramilitaries
in Colombia can be traced back to the 1950s´ confrontations between
liberals and conservatives, and the drug cartels to the 1980s. Each
successively brutal cycle has devolved the country toward a national
psychosis of violence, a state of mind where carnage and fear have
become the fabric of daily life. Juan Manuel Echavarri'a's disturbingly
beautiful pictures and videos address the dread and human waste of this
endless war. The "aesthetic of violence" in his work is a strategy of
seduction, anti-shock, and anti-voyeurism. Echavarri'a locates himself
within the contemporary debate on the merit of aesthetic pleasure and
its possibilities for reconciliation with a critical perspective. He
ventures into aestheticism because of its ambivalence and the
possibility of hiding horror within false appearances.
Retratos (Portraits) is a series of photographs of broken and
dilapidated mannequins standing on the sidewalk near clothing stores.
Curiously, the mannequins are used to exhibit and sell garments without
being fixed. The lacerated, broken, and battered body goes unnoticed in
Colombia, where there is a simultaneous depiction and "normalization" of
violence (which is normal and norm at the same time). El Testigo (The
Witness), is a black and white photograph of an emaciated,
phantasmagoric white horse standing at the center of an extensive,
solitary landscape.
Two video works are included in the exhibition: Guerra y Pa (War and
Peace) stages two parrots trained during eight months to perform in this
nine-minute video. One learned to repeat the word "guerra" (war) and the
other says "pa" (pea literally), using the pronunciation of the
Colombian Caribbean. The parrots standing on a cruciform perch, fight,
change positions, and scream at each other, in a parody of politicians
and guerrillas when they publicly address issues of peace and war. Bocas
de Ceniza (Mouths of Ash): On a given Ash Wednesday, the Spanish
entered Colombia. The name Bocas de ceniza was given to the point of
access: the mouth of the Magdalena River. Today, the Magdalena River's
current takes and provides a way out for the body of many Colombians
killed in these interminable episodes of violence. The video shows
close-up on the faces of seven survivors of forced displacement and
massacres who sing their stories.
Opening: Thursday, January 19, 6 to 8 PM
Josee Bienvenu Gallery
529 West 20th Street - New York