ARTISTS IN THE ANTIPODES
Feb 28, 2020
art madrid
From Taiwan to Brazil and from Ecuador to Thailand
More than 200 artists represented by 41 galleries make up the general program of this edition of Art Madrid. During the fifteen years of the fair, the international presence of both artists and galleries has increased to 40% of the total.
Artists have come from Cuba, Venezuela, the United States, South Africa, Algeria, Iran, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina... and dozens of countries that have participated in Art Madrid over the years.
In this edition we have such a variety of artists from faraway countries that we have found the line of the antipodes among several of them.
Mu Pan, Taiwan. Represented by Galerie LJ
Mu Pan describes his work as "simply about telling stories " In his intricate battle scenes, human figures, beasts and strange mixtures of the two come together in epic life-and-death struggles. In his "origaMU" paper sculptures, colorful creatures take on a 3D form. The artist is "a creator of worlds" as he puts it. He portrays critical stories full of details taken to the extreme, entering into an art where references to literary, political and cultural stories are intermingled.
Mu Pan of Taiwanese origin studied Art at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he now teaches illustration. During the past 2019 the collection SOLO welcomed part of this peculiar world in which one can get lost for hours discovering in every detail and in every corner of the painting something new.
With a critical and incisive look, but without losing his sense of humour and irony, the author captures in his paintings everything that displeases him, such as racism, violence or lies, and puts both the present time and nature in focus.
His artworks reflect the many cultural influences to which he has been exposed, from Chinese literature to superheroes, from ukiyoe to cinema and comics. To contemplate a work of Mu Pan is to soak up action, dynamism and energy through his meticulously constructed battles. His paintings have an extreme degree of detail that is reminiscent of the paintings of El Bosco, with connotations of the end of the world, hybrid characters, half man, half animal, on the verge of caricature, as well as epic scenes in which he mixes references to current events and manga culture. Mu Pan's work is a pretext to highlight everything that displeases him: violence, conflict or lies, which he captures in his paintings in the key of anger and humour. In the artist's words: "Drawing and painting are for me the most obvious ways to claim justice". Global warming, racism, classism or the trade wars between superpowers serve as inspiration for this artist who puts current events and human nature in the spotlight.
Chen Yun, Taiwan. Yiri Arts Gallery
Chen Yu's drawings have evolved from horizontal to vertical constructions, a compositional style that grows upwards, visually exploring the dimensional and psychological impact. Behind this methodically planned composition, and as in poetry, there are clues that allude to time and reality. With scenes in fixed camera, a detailed shot on one side, the silhouette of a woman on the opposite side, an image full of symbolism... Chen acts as a guide, carrying a weak light that accompanies the viewer into the depths of memory.
Chen Sheng-Wen studied Visual Communication Design at National Yunlin University in Taiwan. He has had several solo and group exhibitions in Taiwan and Japan. He has been awarded with Taipei Free Art Fair, Huashan 1914 Taipei.
Lai Wei-Yu, Taiwan. Yiri Arts Gallery
The artist Lai Wei-Yu takes seemingly absurd situations and explores them with childlike amazement. However, in the dark corners we can also glimpse the frustration and desolation of life. Lai Wei-Yu studied at the MFA Institute of Arts in Taiwan. His artwork has been shown in several individual and collective exhibitions and is also present in public collections such as that of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan.
Paul Rosero Contreras (Quito, 1982). Más arte Galería
Paul is a conceptual artist who works with scientific information, speculative realism and different fictional narratives. His work explores issues related to geopolitics, environmental problems and the relationship of humans in extreme ecosystems. Rosero received an MFA from the California Institute of Arts - CalArts and an Interdisciplinary Master's Degree in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Her work has received national and international awards and has been widely exhibited at the 57th Venice Biennale, Antarctic Pavilion, Italy, at the 5th Moscow Biennale of Young Art, at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, France, at the Cervantes Institute in Rome, Italy, at the Museum of History in Zaragoza, Spain, the H2 Art Center in Augsburg, Germany, at the 11th Moscow Biennale of Young Art. Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador, in Import Projects, Berlin, Germany, in the 1st Antarctic Biennial, in the 1st Southern Biennial in Argentina, in the SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, among others. Rosero teaches and researches at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
Chamnan Chongpaiboon, Thailand. Soraya Cartategui
Chamnan Chongpaiboon is part of the new generation of young Thai artists. He attended the Faculty of Fine Arts in Shupanburi and obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Printmaking from the King Mougkut Institute of Technology in Ladkrabang.
Chamnan artworks with an innovative graphic style, under the modern bases of multimedia art and Japanese printing forms. His inspiration is closely linked to artists such as the Japanese Yayoi Kusama (1929, Matsumoto, Japan) whose work revolves around psychedelia, repetition and patterns. Her artistic production is limited due to the artist's meticulous work in making each piece. He is an artist with a great international career. Among the countries and cities where he has exhibited his pieces we find Australia, London, New York, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Miami, Singapore, etc.
Eduardo Marco, Porto Alegre (Brazil). Zielinsky Gallery
The artistic envoy that moves this photographer is the concern to clear up what is hidden from the common gaze; to reveal in its most literal sense what is apparently insignificant, but which the artist's gaze makes us perceive as a harmonic, igniting in us the spark of enthusiasm. In this process, Marco's honesty does not carry the heavy burden of theoretical assumptions; it is given without learned dogmas. Marco's gaze rescues the pristine beauty of the lotus lit in the mud puddle. He has participated in many projects in different parts of the world, such as China and Brazil.
Nina Franco. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Paulo Nunes Arte Contemporânea
The work of the visual artist Nina Franco leads us into the depths of contemporary socio-political conflicts. She has had two solo exhibitions presenting her main series: "Soul Black" in Brazil and "Let Me Scream" in Ireland, as well as several group exhibitions in Brazil, Ireland, Greece and the United Kingdom.
