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Ángela de la Cruz

Ángela de la Cruz

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Dates: 
24 September 2004 - 5 December 2004
Place: 
Annex Space
Hours: 
Tuesdays to Sundays (including holidays), from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Production: 
MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo
Curator: 
Carlota Álvarez Basso

Works on exhibition

For the inaugural project at the annex space at MARCO, Angela de la Cruz will be exhibiting two site specific paintings. Both Larger than Life and Stuck have been created specifically to the measurements of both halls in the Annex Space, which play with the sense of space and its real and imaginary limits. The former literally invades the main hall preventing the spectator from getting in, while the latter blocks the entrance to the second hall as it is stuck in the entrance corridor.

 

Summary

"Previously my research has led me to produce several defining bodies of works. They can be summarised within the following categories: the Everyday Paintings (paintings interacting with other paintings to become an object-painting); the Site-specific Paintings (abandoning the traditional vertical plane and the modernist presentation of paintings); the Commodity Paintings (addressing the concepts of seriality and repetition); the Recycled Paintings (reusing the stretcher or the canvas endlessly to make painting- after- painting from other paintings); and the Still-life Paintings (incorporating an object).

The ‘Still-life Paintings' and the ‘Recycled Paintings' have been the initial parameters of the development of a new language. The paintings have a language of appropriation: the works are self-referential and aware of the history of painting. Objects and paintings, and their physical expansion, have been a source of exploration. The paintings and objects are distorted, inserted into each other or activated towards other works.

In my recent work ‘Clutter', I reintroduced the use of aluminium and metal objects into my work, and metal frames became containers for other paintings; canvases became like body bags.

For my new works in MARCO, I am reusing two concepts from past works, ‘Larger Than Life' (first presented in 1998) and ‘Stuck', 2001. In recent years, my work has reflected on excess of production, and on ‘accumulations' of paintings that used as single works become a different one. ‘Larger than Life' (2004) and ‘Stuck' (2004) share conceptual similarities to this, yet are concerned more with singularity and gesture than seriality and accumulation.

Both works refer to space and are site-specific. One exceeds the Annex space and is collapsed within it, the other is stuck in a doorway, blocking it and allowing no way in or out. Both works are an obstruction to the space; ‘Larger than Life' can only be viewed from an outside street- level window. ‘Stuck' also refuses access; both cancel out the traditional space of painting.

The Annex is a square space on the side of the Museum (formerly a prison), one might say an ‘attachment'. The idea of it being a ‘container' of work is relevant to themes associated with my paintings, such as ‘Parasite' (1998) and ‘Clutter' (2003); the idea of a painting being a container for others. Therefore architecture and painting will fuse into a unique work. The end result will be painting-space transformed into an object- space of parasitical nature, with both canceling their traditional roles.

Colour and scale will also be used to represent painting tradition and architecture. Colour is an important element of these works, as it refers to historical Spanish painting, and the colour of the Annex itself."


Angela de la Cruz, 2004

 

 

Artists

Ángela de la Cruz

Angela de la Cruz (Coruña, 1965) is a Galician-born artist who has been living in the United Kingdom for more than 15 years. She studied Philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela and later moved to London where she studied at different art schools (Chelsea College of Art, Goldsmiths College, MA in Sculpture and Critical Theory at the Slade School of Art). She then began a promising artistic career that has enabled her to become one of the most interesting artists of her generation. She currently lives and works in London and teaches at the Chelsea School of Art, The Ruskin School and Oxford University.

Ángela de la Cruz's work has been exhibited in many countries. The exhibition taking place at MARCO will be her first one-person exhibition in this country. However this is one of many projects which Angela has worked on in 2004, these include her proposal at one of ARCO'04 project rooms, her participation at Manifesta V (held in San Sebastian) and Forum Barcelona. She opened her first solo exhibition at the Lisson Gallery, London, in June 2004.

Angela de la Cruz is currently represented by Lisson Gallery, London, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne.

Curator

Carlota Álvarez Basso

Carlota Álvarez Basso (Vigo, 1964) studied Sociology at Nanterre University, Paris, France. From 1992 to 1999 she was Head of the A/V Artworks Department at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. She also directed the Congress and Exhibitions Hall in Pontevedra from 1999 to 2001 and designed and started up MARCO, Museum of Contemporary Art Vigo, which she directed until 2005.

He has curated many national and international exhibitions and she has been member of several honourable committees and advisory boards of cultural institutions. She has also participated as a member of the panels of contests and festivals. She offered national and international lectures and round-table meetings. She also wrote a wide range of critic texts for catalogues and magazines.