17/12/20 - A year ago the first auction of a private collection of contemporary art was taking place in   Argentina. The collectors decided to shift their impeccable and numerous group of pieces to focus on what they called Federal Art. Among the pieces left for auction, there was a small artwork by Matías Duville which was sold, after an intense bidding, for several thousands dollars. Who bought it? Another collector who bid by phone (Eduardo Costantini).

We go back in time again and we are at Art Dubai, the new art fair of the Emirates. There, the gallery Revolver presented only one artist: Matías Duville. It's the year 2015, at the Centro Cultural Recoleta: an entire gallery dedicated to the enigmatic Arena Parking. Galería Barro at La Boca, September 2018, the doors open and we see Duville's impressive sanguines. Impressive not only for their aesthetic, but also for their size. And we could go on and on writing about the many times we came across his artworks, but let's focus today on what is being shown at the Colección Fortabat: a true Duvillian universe.

Material: wooden platform and carpet / Measures: 520 x 1460 x 30 cm

Círculo, by Matías Duville (2020)

Technique: acrylic on wood chipboard / Measures: 244 x 366 cm (owned by the artist)

Dinastía, de Matías Duvill

Technique: acrylic on wood chipboard / Measures: 244 x 366 cm

View of the exhibition Hotel Palmera (sanguines)

The exhibition is called Hotel Palmera and it is a tour around the works done through his entire career, with some recent pieces. It's interesting to realize that he has worked with all possible mediums and has even created structures that involve visitors (the artwork is completed when we experiment with it). The installations of this exhibition call for our physical effort: mounting stairs, dodging mirrors, turning, etc. We feel disoriented but we want to be part of this universe in red, or the night that wraps us or the uneven platform.  

With Un fondo en cumbre, our anguish reaches its climax: the installation shows us what's left after a catastrophe caused by a cataclysm.  How is this effect achieved? It's fascinating. We see rusty irons which used to be hooks and anchors on a salty surface: a crude reference to a Nature that no longer exists and a sea that has disappeared. This representation of a devastated landscape contrasts with that painted on the 18th century of a Man of Romanticism enjoying a landscape that is now ruined.  

Un fondo en cumbre, by Matías Duville (2019-2020)

Material: iron and salt / Variable dimensions

Why Hotel Palmera? It is said that the artist explained that “it's simply a place”, which adds extra mystery to the exhibition.