UNTIL SUNDAY 28/6
VAT. Guillem de Castro, 118
That the carcaixentina Anna's speech it is no secret that she is one of the most interesting contemporary Valencian artists, and our flagship museum knows it. Elegant, synthetic and minimalist, extract beauty from such simple gestures (and complicated at the same time) how to tie a knot, draw a line or punch a sheet. The exhibition cycle begins with Talens Territories in transit of the VAT, where two artists from different territories are invited to exhibit in parallel with discourses and personal languages that end up meeting. In this case they are two artists who converse from opposite shores of the Mediterranean: Valencia and Majorca. A sea with its own entity, understood as territory, not as an envelope of the terra firma; as a joining element, no separation. Territory, tradition, sustainability, nature, horizon and sea join hands in this titled exhibition Between the lighthouse and the abyss, where light and the abyss coexist. Literally: the room plunges you into the dark abyss or pushes you towards the bright surface depending on whether you start the journey in one direction or the other. He wants to remind us that they are two antagonistic and complementary realities, there is no light without darkness.
If you start with the light, it will enlighten you Alba Mobile, an installation that refers to the idea of a lighthouse to evoke the light of Rome, through gridded golden mirrors that receive flashing light. How does one receive it? Fake Mermaid of Guerrero Mar made with reclaimed wood. The Mallorcan collects residual materials from the ocean - eroded plastics, driftwood, etc.— and transforms them into sculptures. It is one of the links shared by both artists: the fetishism of found objects to give a second life. A cycle of recycling and sacralization that Duchamp already invented a few years ago. The artisanal work is the other point of union. Guerrero, for example, creates abyssal creatures with the blown glass technique and Talens manufactures pieces with textiles, recovering the family embroidery tradition. But his range of synthetic and elegant work, increasingly conceptual, goes above and beyond and always dazzles, despite being exposed in the dark part of the room. Here you will find small pieces about lighthouses, horizons or shipwrecks, like the old postcards on which he draws spots of gold leaf or silver lines to talk about the idea of a maritime horizon, of the sea as an existential place. Also float sea creatures — octopuses, anemones, urchins—bright colors hinted at with micro-perforations on flat surfaces that remind us of the richness of the seabed and the need to preserve it. Mar Guerrero and Anna Talens inhabit an indispensable liquid territory that needs to be loved and cared for. S.M.
