Escenarios Atípicos
Recent Drawing from Colombia
Centre for Recent Drawing presents recent drawing from Colombia in the work of Teresa Currea Moncaleano, Alicia Garavito, Luis Hernández Mellizo, Jose Antonio Suarez Londono, Mateo López and Luisa Roa.
“Despite increasingly finding ourselves in a multilateral context, countries that for centuries imposed their economic and cultural hegemony are still yearning for the atypical, for the characteristically local, from countries from parts previously called peripheral. We trace every outline looking for pre-Columbian signs, remains of the colonial period, at least some symbol that brings the exotic and exuberant Macondo to us. Yet what we find here is an amalgam of the centre; for resonating here, too, is the echo of dominant discourses in contemporary art. The tradition of drawing in Colombia has been strong, as seen in the drawing Biennial of Cali, and the Rayo Museum of Drawing and Engraving; both important in the art map of Latin America. What distinguishes these young artists, though, is that they are very conscious of the trends that circulate from the great centres of world art.
This exhibition is an opportunity to reflect on the role of communication technology in the globalization process and specifically in the democratic access to visual information and the repercussions this has had on graphic production. A country that takes its name from that of the controversial "discoverer" provides an appropriate meditation on our understanding of colonization, in all of its permutations and directions.”
Julio Lopez Tornel
JD and Stuart Evans have formed BALON to introduce recent art from Latin America to new audiences. The inspirations behind this exhibition are the dialogue of drawings between Jose Antonio Suarez Londono and Mateo Lopez entitled "Ping Pong" which they saw last year presented by Galeria Casas Riegner at Art Basel and the beautiful exhibition curated by Maria Lovino in Bogota to coincide with the 2010 edition of ArtBo.
They have a strong interest in contemporary drawing and visited Colombia at the suggestion of Luis Pérez-Oramas (the curator of Latin American Art for the Museum of Modern Art New York and the curator for the 30th São Paulo International Biennial to be held in 2012). John and Stuart are delighted to have been able to see so much outstanding contemporary art in Bogota and to engage with the young artists whose works explore these 'Escenarios Atipicos'.
Please join us for the opening reception on Thursday 17 March 2011 from 6 - 8pm. The exhibition will run from 18 March to 23 April 2011. Centre for Recent Drawing is open for this exhibition 2 - 6pm from Thursday to Saturday at 2 - 4 Highbury Station Road, Highbury Islington, London. C4RD is a Registered UK Charity 1123530, and would particularly like to acknowledge the support for this exhibition of BALON and ARTUPDATE.COM/.
