Susy Gomez
dal 2/4/2009 al 20/6/2009
Segnalato da
2/4/2009
Susy Gomez
CAC Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Malaga
Solo show
One of the most interesting players on the Spanish art scene, with an
international impact since she leapt to fame in the 1990s, the Mallorcan
artist Susy Gómez (Pollença, Mallorca, 1964) presents her latest – and
personal – photographic works at CAC Málaga.
Like other artists of her generation, Susy Gómez has developed a
post-conceptual aesthetic that is difficult to categorise in order to construct
different discourses that pose questions on the body and identity.Technically
speaking her work is quite varied, as it responds to different intentions
going from drawing to sculpture by means of various materials (from the
most fragile and ephemeral to bronze and iron), video and some very
personal uses of installation and photography. The set of themes she
explores is also very wide, tackling autobiographical memories as well as
hermetic approaches in which figurative symbols are used as abstract ones.
Her images are always of things close to us, of nature and of daily life, and
feature such things as eyes, hearts, butterflies, flowers, houses, mountains
and dresses, which work as open metaphors.
El timón de mis almas [The helm of my souls] is composed of 18
large format works that were created especially for CAC Málaga based
on a selection of photographs from 20 years of the magazine Vogue España.
The fashion world has always fascinated Susy Gómez, who studied Fashion
Design as well as Fine Arts. The works are her characteristic images of
women taken from fashion magazines and modified by Gómez herself,
who has photographically enlarged them to show them resting on the
ground as if they were sculptures. In addition to paint, Susy Gómez applies
other materials here for the first time, like glitter (Untitled no. 237, no. 248
and no. 251 ), wax droplets that fall from lit candles (Untitled no. 247 and
no. 249 ) and other objects from her family history, such as a ring and
some earrings (Untitled no. 243 and no. 250 ) that belonged to her mother
and enter here into the category of symbol.
The exhibit focuses on the vital need to question the present,
destiny, the meaning of life and identity in various settings. It not only
tries to show but to insert the spectator into the experience of the artist’s
creative act. The images have great beauty and a certain aura of mystery
that respond to different needs by stressing the internal dialogue of each
one of the women and the sum of their distinct voices as a metaphor for
dialogue across generations.
“The exhibition”, Susy Gómez explains, “is dedicated to my father’s
three sisters: Emma, Adonina and most especially the eldest, my aunt
Licinia (whose portrait appears reproduced on the cover of the show’s
catalogue). This is my way of giving deep recognition to the lives and
work of these women who have inspired me and given me the strength
I have needed to dedicate my life to art” ... “Family ties speak of the way
of understanding the world, of the place we occupy, of the way they
influence me, which is what my work reflects on”.
The exhibition ends with the video performance A Licinia Gómez
(2009), which brings together metaphorical images and movements in
remembrance of the artist’s ancestors by means of portraits, objects and
landscapes that evoke their experiences. These actions are directed by a
therapist who will bring systemic educational focus, and are based on a
photograph from the beginning of the 20th century taken at Cala Sant
Vicenç, Mallorca, where Susy Gómez grew up, and which shows a group
of women and men forming a circle.
Susy Gómez’s latest videos explore the idea of ritual performance
within the feminist tradition as a form of self-discovery, catharsis and
therapy in which the body changes into something akin to a magic or
sculptural object and the artist, as a faith healer or initiatory guide, reflects
on her social and even educational role.
Image: Susy Gómez Sin título no 238, 2009. Mixed media on printed image, photographically enlarged on aluminium on wood. 240 x 180 cm
Press contact
Beatriz Lafuente prensa@cacmalaga.org - prensa2@cacmalaga.org
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga
Alemania, s/n. 29001 Málaga
OPENING HOURS: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm.