Contemporaneo of Santiago de Chile
Hell Ain't A Bad Place to Be. Through drawings, paintings and visual instalations the exhibition pulls the spectator into a rhythm both captivating and confounding.
Curated By Antonio Brodsky
On May 15 the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo of Santiago de Chile (MAC) located in Quinta Normal, will host the individual show Hell Ain't A Bad Place to Be by the artist Abdul Vas, who stepped into the contemporary art scene with a singular outlook marked by such disimilar elements as Baseball and Rock and Roll.
Through drawings, paintings and visual instalations the exhibition Hell Ain't A Bad Place to Be pulls the spectator into a rhythm both captivating and confounding. In this way, a liberating art exercise commences, in which the artist validates his strong connection with the imagery of American mass culture and its dialectic with the urban culture of Motorcity "Kippenland."
This aesthetic and deliberate representation plays about with topics addredsing such varied concerns as baseball and rock and roll stadiums and the strange, desolated spots where rooster-men walk around inhabiting their own world for the consumption of shocking and frightening images that become our own daily "well mannered" hell. Combining dissimilar visual and aesthetic elements such as large Navistar trucks, Mack, the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, MLB, the aesthetics of rock bands like The Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, Slayer and the rhythmic power of AC/DC.
With the goal of including local participants, the Project will team up with the mythical "Schools of Rock". The exhibition will create a space for young musicians of the new Chilean scene to hold a public concert and workshops with students. It will also provide an opportunity to open our field of experience to the dynamic rock and roll scene, linking it to contemporary art.
Abdul Vas (b. 1981, Maracay, Venezuela), has lived in Surinam, the Netherlands, Belgium and currently resides in both Lisbon and Madrid. His work, which has been shown in the USA, Latin America, Asia and Europe, encompasses drawing, painting, book-making, fanzines, photographic works and murals, and is part of several international collections.
Antonio Brodsky (b. 1983, Santiago, Chile), has lived in Santiago, Brussels and Madrid, where he currently lives and works. He studied History and has developed a practice closely linked to art collectives, electronic music, performances, drawing and photography with the Transfiguart group in ArtMadrid and several alternative spaces.
Image: Abdul Vas, AC/DC, 2003. Ink, oil, dustgold and stickers on plastic briefcase, 56 x 70 cm. Photo: Oak Taylor. © Abdul Vas.
Opening: May 15
Contemporáneo of Santiago de Chile (MAC)
Matucana 464
Santiago. Metro Quinta Normal
Hours: 11–19h