The mural can only be seen properly from the water. The house is currently on sale. The image shows a boy with a life vest and a lighted flare, in a clear reference to migrants and refugees. 

For the visitors of the Biennale, this is another show among the many offered during those days. For each and everyone of us, this is a new wake-up call on the reality that still shakes us: that of refugee children. 

Banksy - Venice 2019

Cynthia Cohen, from the exhibition "Un jardín sobre una playa, una playa sobre la ciudad, una ciudad sobre un cerro".

Galería del paseo, Manantiales, Uruguay

Team work in Manantiales, Uruguay: the mother paints and the daughter writes. Cynthia Cohen (Buenos Aires, 1969) and Natalia Malamute we’re summoned by Galería del Paseo for the exhibition "Un jardín sobre una playa, una playa sobre la ciudad, una ciudad sobre un cerro, ". an invitation to enjoy Pop art and a bit of Kitsch, Cohen’s successful formula.

Collage V, by Cynthia Cohen (2018)

Technique: oil on canvas /Measures: 170 x 220 cm

Galería del Paseo, Manantiales, Uruguay

In a paragraph Natalia describes her mother’s artworks and atelier as “a chaos within an order”. And that’s just what this exhibition is: a group of paintings in which we see a little of everything Cohen does.

There’s the diamonds, the animal skins, the stones, the flowers, even a horse, all of them in peaceful conversation. And although the ring, the flowers and the horse are a bit isolated, the other pieces have something of each one in their eccentric collages. 

Collage IV, by Cynthia Cohen (2018)

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 50 x 35 cm

Cynthia Cohen

Technique: oil on canvas

Galería del Paseo, Manantiales, Uruguay

“This chaos works as a kind of transition to a yet uncertain place”, explains Malamute and we are left wondering and waiting for what Cohen will produce next.

The Matter of Time, by Richard Serra (1994 – 2005)

8 sculptures in weathering steel / variable dimensions.

From a simple ellipse to the complexity of a spiral, Serra (USA, 1939) allows us to perceive the evolution of the shapes of "The Matter of Time". With no pedestal and taking up much of the visitor's space, these objects offer a different experience. As we tour the pieces, surrounding them or walking inside of them, we feel as if the entire space was moving. "The Matter of Time", as well as "Snake" , seem to lose their weight and size.

Although it sounds impossible, these iron walls are not fixed to the ground. They just stand in perfect equilibrium. A true challenge to gravity itself. 

Flora, by Miguel Angel Rojas

As it is crushed to a window, the installation is in tension with the exhibition space. The fixation of the rock does not look safe, which alters our perception. The opacity of the folds, the wrinkles and textures of the surface denounces the falseness of the material: the artwork pretends to be something that is not. We are invited to be part of this game although we can not come in contact with it. If we could touch it, the illusion would be over.  But we visually feel its weight and next to it we perceive our smallness in comparison to Nature.

26/09/18 - In the many pilgrimages we, art lovers, undertake, a visit to the Guggenheim, in Bilbao, is a must. The curvy metallic structure of this museum catches the eye from the outside, with its changing iridescence and extraordinary architecture. Several monumental pieces, from the permanent collection, surround it. Puppy, by Jeff Koons, is the most popular one and it's strategically placed towards the entrance. 

Puppy, by Jeff Koons (1992) 

Stainless steel, soil and plants / Measures: 1240 x 1240 x 820 cm

Maman, by Louise Bourgeois 

The gigantic spider by French artist Louise Bourgeois occupies another angle of the museum. The interaction with it is ambiguous: some reject it as a cage from which you can not escape and others admire that huge mother (according to the artist, is a representation of her own mother) that stands on her long legs, quite like Gothic arches.

Tall Tree & The Eye, by Anish Kapoor (2009)

Stainless steel and cartooned steel  / Measures: 1297 x 442 x 440 cm

Inside the river that surrounds the museum, Anish Kapoor's Tall Tree & The Eye is made of 70 balls of steel. Its shiny surface reflects the surroundings and also refracts the light.

Arku Gorriak, by Daniel Buren (2007)

Laminated panels, aluminium, galvanized steel, PVC film, LEDs and metallic projectors  / Measures: 57.5x 27.85 x 2.17 m

The great arch over La Salve bridge belongs to Daniel Buren. It was specially created for that space, something very common in this artist that always dares to dramatically modify the surroundings. The straight lines of Buren's arch stand out against the curves of the museum. 

Solitario, by Joana Vasconcelos (2018)

Materials: golden tires, crystal whisky tumblers, iron, stainless steel and glass / Measures: 720 x 604 x 209 cm

And finally Joana Vasconcelos's incredible structure. This piece does not belong to the permanent collection but it's there to anticipate the current exhibition. Huge and made with common objects, this installation, called Solitaire, is a mega engagement ring! 

All these pieces, in dialogue with the museum's architecture, give the Guggenheim a ver dynamic  appearance. The combination is perfect: all these creations seem to be guarding the big star, which is the museum itself.

Many have suggested that they look like pills, others like the remaining ruins of a fallen Roman temple. Any interpretation is possible, as so often happens with contemporary art. However, if we consider the creative history of the artist, we might agree that it's eccentric in relation to the architecture that surrounds it, monumental because of the space it occupies, geometric in its construction and sensitive in its perception.

Buren was able to transform the venue he was given, achieving not only a public attraction, but also an eclectic collage with the buildings around it. With this abstract piece he creates a contradiction between the forces at play in this outdoor space.

Material: PVC threads and painted metal

With this artwork, Jesús Soto (Venezuela, 1923 – París, 2005) uses industrial and synthetic materials to produce a large scale, geometric, abstract and kinetic sculpture. The piece responds to our stimulus and is completed with our interactions. 

When someone goes inside and starts walking towards the middle, the human figure disappears. Those that are outside can not see those in the center of the plastic tubes. This is precisely what the artist wants: our de-materialization blended with the vibration of the vertical tubes as they touch our bodies.

As we walk through the structure, we experience physical sensations but also optic ones, because of the moving "blueness". The tubes that hang from the metal structure lose their individuality to become one single stain of color, that seem to dissolve with the surroundings. 

"Pénétrable BBL bleu" is one of the 25 "Penetrables" that Soto created throughout his life.  

Through all this process of acquisition, forging, smelting, exchange and re-smelting, a cycle, very similar to Nature’s cycle of life takes place. Trees change their leaves season after season. A leaf that today hangs from a branch, shall fall and be replaced by a new one.

Zuleika Penniman, of Lebanese and American origins, is currently exhibiting at the Tashkeel Center in Dubai a piece representing the branch of a tree with silver leaves. Each of those leaves is identified with the origin of the material used.

AG950-2K, by Zuleika Penniman, (2018)

Material: silver and copper / Measures: 80 x 30 x 170 cm 

Penniman explores the cycle of life, comparing Nature with a similar cultural tradition in which something must stop existing to be reborn as something new. It is a duality that persists in our existence and that’s perfectly represented in the leaves of the trees and the jewels of the Bedouin women: Continuity And Transcendence.

Sugar Routes II, by Zineb Sedira (2013)

Two objects made of sugar: an anchor of 31 x 21 cm and a screw of 11 x 23 cm

After spending time investigating a silo at Marseillle’s Port, Sedira creates these sculptures to represent the routes and the people that are connected in Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Europe for the distribution of sugar. 

Seafaring, by Zineb Sedira (2013)

Since the 19th Century, the commerce of this commodity involves thousands of lives, such as the slaves that worked the plantations in North America. Sedira introduces us to the global traffic of sugar, which after being refined and transformed into a white powder, reaches every corner of the planet.

Centuries ago sugar was considered a luxury. Today is seen as a necessity by millions of consumers from different cultures. It’s commerce still impacts greatly in the environment and the people as in the past years. Zineb Sedira shows us the roads of this merchandise and of the people involved. Her artworks can be related with today’s migratory routes of those seeking a better future.

03/19/18 - In this new edition (number 14) of Art Dubai, 105 galleries present artists that are seldom found in the art market. One of them is Sudarshan Shetty (India, 1961), who can be seen at the Templon Gallery (from Paris and Bruxelles) and at the Leila Heller Gallery from New York, which has a space at the fair and headquarters in Alserkal, just outside of Dubai.

Untitled, by Sudarshan Shetty (2017)

Materials: recycled wood / Measures: 100.5 x 68.5 x 26.5 cm

Templon

Shetty can be considered a conceptual artist, and his artworks are enigmatic, hybrid and frequently blended with Western culture. In "Untitled" (2017), for example, we see a bird and a window made of recycled wood, which, because of the floral details, reminds us of India. On the other hand, his pots made with teak wood, typical of India, copy an antique Japanese technique (although it’s done with gold instead of wood). These ceramic urns, known as matkas, are used to carry water and for funerary rituals, symbolizing the physical body of the deceased. Shetty’s reconstruction pretends to represent the concept of frailty through a familiar object.

Untitled, by Sudarshan Shetty (2017)

Materials: teak wood and found ceramics / Different measures

Templon

Sudarshan Shetty

Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai

More enigmatic still are his installations, like this carpet that covers what seems to be a human body. Once again he uses wood, worked impeccably. The volume suggests new possibilities in sense and perception, although this idea is similar to a marble installation by Maurizio Cattelan.

Untitled, by Sudarshan Shetty (2015)

Recycled Wood / Measures: 243,8 x 183 x 27,9 cm

This and the following artwork were handcrafted and they both use a common object of India’s folklore: the small praying carpets. The recycled woods, found in markets, give the artwork a very particular quality since they carry in them the stories and histories of their past owners. These structures, however, transmit a sense of loneliness and absence. Shetty examines the death rituals. This is why he believes his group of artworks are part of an effort to understand the sense of emptiness caused by absence.

Sudarshan Shetty

Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai

02/12/18 - This is a post about a very particular experience witnessed in one of the rooms of the second floor of the MoMA in New York. It’s not easy to explain, since photography was not allowed. To begin with, it’s about a series of sensations that try to put visitors in the place in which artist Tania Bruguera (Cuba, 1968) created this “Untitled” which was presented at the Habana Art Biennial of the year 2000. To experience it one must be very patient: only 5 visitors can enter at the same time to the room, which is a really small number for such a museum. So, after an hour waiting in line and having been adviced that high heels were not recommended, that there were scenes of nudity and that it was forbidden to walk barefoot, we were allowed inside, into total darkness.

All the waiting time and recommendations are forgotten as we start experiencing this. First, a penetrating smell of something rotten invades us, then the floor we walk into is covered with remains of sugar canes, so we must move with care. When our eyes adjust, we see a single light guiding the way. It is, in fact, a screen that hangs from the ceiling and shows Fidel Castro in public or private events, giving speeches, swimming or showing that we wears no ballistic vest.

So the artwork combines the pieces of sugar cane with a video of the leader of the Cuban Revolution and a live performance by 4 nude men, standing on the waste of the canes. The general sensation is visceral and choking: we are inside a prison of inhuman conditions, where 4 unprotected souls must face the image of their leader.

The truth is that with few elements (and easy to obtain in Cuba), the artist skillfully shows that the romanticism with which Cuba’s political system is seen abroad is not such. Plus it suggests the oppressive relationship between the citizens and their authorities. According to Bruguera, the aim was not to “represent the political issue”, but “to provoque it. “Untitled” was acquired by MoMA to become part of the museum’s permanent collection.