Seems like such
old news but for those of you who are interested...
January 29, 2009: I emerged from the wonderfully efficient and clean Madrid metro to see this:
Such a wonderful image (the original painting is by Salustiano, a painter from Sevilla). The morning was all press. I was impressed with the turnout -- and of course, I hope we get favorably reviewed. I also wished I had a better grip on the language (good enough to get a round but nothing to necessarily be proud of) so I could speak with the reporters in Spanish but I relied instead on their gracious and fluent English. I definitely lack the more technical vocabulary, and since I find it difficult to talk about my work in my native English, I wasn't about to chance it in my crappy "donde esta el bano" Spanish. My mom, who is Cuban, must be so proud!
I
might be biased but I thought the show looked great. Each venue of The Missing
Peace teases out different aspects of the work and therefore has its own
personality.
This a view from the front room to my piece, "Terminus" -- am tickled with how and
where they installed it. "Terminus," which is part of my Fingerprint Series. It's composed of hundreds of wax casts of fingerprints I've collected from friends over the past 10 years. The piece is a result of friendships all interconnected that come together in this piece.
The shadows the wax fingerprints cast are also blended in with shadows I've painted in with sumi ink, so that the effect is a feeling that things aren't quite what they seem to be.
This piece was made to travel, so it's on panel -- something I hadn't done before with this series.
It is also based on the pattern of emanating auras that are found behind meditating monks in Tibetan paintings. I was especially interested in one I saw at the Dalai Lama's Summer Palace in Lhasa a few years ago.
The
Fundacion Canal is a former water pumping station from the early 20th century,
and the
original brick-lined tunnels are incorporated in the design of some of
the galleries. The installation of Ryuichi Sakamoto's work paired with a
thangka lent by His Holiness in one of these brick tunnel grottoes was
particularly powerful.
Sakamoto's
piece was a table covered with sand that shifted patterns due to speakers
installed below it sending soundwaves. It was a thoroughly
contemporary take on the traditional sand mandalas found in Tibetan Buddhism.
After
a day of press followed by and evening of opening celebrations, the artists and
museum organizers were invited to a wonderful dinner hosted by the Missing
Peace organizers. It was at the beautiful Cafe Oriental across from the
Palacio. I love how its architecture so closely resembled that of the
exhibition.
After having been to LA, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and now Madrid, the exhibition will go to Miami in the Fall. Finally! My family might just get a chance to see the work.
Next entry: Madrid Miscellanea
