March Art Guide - Madrid

Two contemporary art exhibitions not to be missed in Madrid during March and April! Recommendations by our local guide in Madrid, Maria Jose Manjon. Discover even more on a private tour.

I.

Exhibition: Intuición
Artist: Carlos Bunga
Venue: Galería Elba Benítez
Dates: Until April 2018

Carlos Bunga, in his current exhibition Intuición (the title is in partial reference to Bergson) at the Galería Elba Benítez, explores the delicate relationship, often fraught yet potentially enriching, between intuitive perception and rational analysis. The exhibition consists of a series of new works by Bunga, all conceived specifically for the gallery’s spaces. As is characteristic of Bunga’s practice, color is a central component of the works’ power (including an intense saffron orange,) as is the tactile presence of the artist’s signature, povera-style materials, such as cardboard, packing tape and house-paint. Also in keeping with Bunga’s established working methods is the interaction between the objects and the architectural elements of the gallery, with works created in situ and at times encrusted or painted onto the gallery’s walls and floors.

II.

Exhibition: 2017 Multiverse Grants for Video Art Creation
Artists: Various Artits
Venue: The Sala Multiverso exhibition space
Dates: Until May 2018

Also, if you like video art do not miss the BBVA Foundation that have provided funds to ten innovative projects through its 2017 Multiverse Grants for Video Art Creation. The Multiverse Grants form part of the BBVA Foundation’s engagement with one of the languages most expressive of our time – that of the moving image. Its work in this area spans the whole cycle from creation – through other one-off vehicles besides these grants – up to and including public exhibition. The Sala Multiverso exhibition space in the Foundation’s Madrid headquarters, with its permanent program, free admission and flexible opening times, has become a reputed venue for video art in Spain. Further, the Foundation organizes regular encounters with artists and students of the visual arts, giving the interested public a chance to learn more about the topics and techniques featuring in the artworks.

Take a private art tour in Madrid to discover even more!

March Art Guide - Bilbao

While keeping an eye on new gallery openings, like at Carreras Mugica, it is possible to find at least three shows worth our interest at Guggenheim and Bellas Artes Museum, namely: Henri Michaux, Goya & the Court, and Art & Space. Since those exhibitions need no introduction, let us move on to the events that might be smaller in size but not in meaning or relevance.

I.

EXHIBITION: By all means
ARTIST: Itziar Barrio
VENUE: Azkuna Zentroa
DATES: Until May 6th, 2018

Azkuna community centre is quite a place in itself, where all sorts of events juxtapose quite shamelessly. The swimming pool hangs over people walking into the indoors public plaza, some are going to the gym, others to the library and various hang out with no true destination. A visit to Itziar Barrio’s exhibition can happen almost as a side effect or randomly. Her work is presented as fresh, not scared of using different media, with a range of themes that aim to engage with the thoughts, fears, desires of all sorts of people, from professional power relations, to symbols, sex or even theft. For this reason, it not only works in itself, but within the space and the building where it is held.

Video installation at Itziar Barrio exhibition

II.

EXHIBITION: Papers
ARTIST: Joaquín Ureña
VENUE: Galería Lumbreras
DATES: Until March 16th, 2018

"I tell the story of my life through inhabited spaces, through books; I am the first viewer"

"My use of colour is intentional, very often colours are more a wish than a reality"

Joaquín Ureña

It is easy to label Ureña as hyperrealist. If we venture deeper into his art, we will find a world of nuances and slightly altered realities on canvases that surround us and event attempt to swallow us, like a powerful narrative, like our favourite book.

Dos botellas II, 2015 © Joaquín Ureña

III.

EXHIBITION: Without Going Further
ARTIST: Iñaki Oñate
VENUE: COAVN Vizcaya
DATES: Until March 28th, 2018

Quite bravely, Oñate sets out to show Bilbao’s architecture through photography, and the venue is precisely the Architects Association Headquarters. Everything could go wrong, but the result is a tasteful round trip through the city, without leaving the two floors of the exhibition space, located right across from the Guggenheim museum.

© Iñaki Oñate

Take a tour in Bilbao to discover more!

Header image credit: By all means, Itziar Barrio Exhibition Image © Azkuna Zentroa

March Art Guide - Warsaw

Recommendations of what to see in the Warsaw art scene this month by our local guide, Zuzanna Zasacka. Discover even more on a private tour.

I.

Exhibition: Small Paintings
Artist: Przemek Matecki
Venue: Raster Gallery
Dates: Until March 30th, 2018

In his latest series of paintings, which he worked on nonstop for the past year or more, Przemek Matecki takes on the vastness of art. A tangible symbol of its fecundity is the heavy piles of superfluous exhibition catalogs and art magazines which the artist browses through in search of inspiring material for his own work. Matecki gives new life to reproductions, transforming them into sharp, witty miniature oil paintings. He negotiates the flatness of print with textural experiments, appliqués and montages, parodying the quoted works much along the lines of internet memes. The treatments he applies generate surprising effects. Here art is submitted to an authorial compression and regains its vigor. 

II.

Exhibition: Edi Hila. Painter of Transformation
Artist: Edi Hila
Venue: Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
Dates: Until May 6th, 2018

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw presents the first retrospective exhibition of the Albanian painter Edi Hila, one of the last neglected masters from Eastern Europe. Hila carefully observed life evolving after the fall of Enver Hoxha’s regime and tried to depict the realities of the Albanian transformation.

III.

Exhibition: Love Story
Artist: Anna Jarnuszkiewicz, Krystian Jarnuszkiewcz
Venue: Archeology of Photography Foundation
Dates: Until April 6th, 2018

Anna and Krystian Jarnuszkiewicz met in 1952 at The State Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. She was studying painting and he was studying sculpture. After they had finished university, they lived together ever after and worked - although separately sometimes, always in a constant closeness which lasted over 50 years and was ceased by Krystian’s death in 2016. These events constitute scenery of their common journey and build the perspective through which the vast selection of works presented within Love Story exhibition should be perceived and understood.

Take a tour in Warsaw to discover more!
 

March Art Guide - Vienna

Recommendations of what to see in the Vienna art scene this month by our local guide, Itai Margula. Discover even more on a private tour.

I.

Exhibition: Recurrence
Artist: Anna Jermolaewa
Venue: Zeller van Almsick Gallery
Dates: Until March 31st, 2018

With the exhibition "Recurrence”, Zeller van Almsick is welcoming Anna Jermolaewa as an artist of the gallery. Born in Petersburg and based in Vienna since 1989, Anna Jermolaewa is an important figure of the Austrian and international art scene. She works primarily in the mediums of photography, video, and installation and her main interest is the analysis of functional structures of society and social systems in everyday life. Jermolewa received the Outstanding Artist Award from the government of Austria in 2011 and last year was part of the MAK Schindler Scholarship Program at the Mackey Apartments, Los Angeles.

Anna Jermolaewa, The Penultimate © Anna Jermolaewa 2017

II.

Exhibition: Current signs
Artists Pablo Chiereghin, Anetta Mona Chişa & Lucia Tkáčová, Johannes Gierlinger, Marina, Gržinić & Aina Šmid, Siggi Hofer and others
Venue: Das Weisse Haus Wien
Dates: February 21 to March 28, 2018

Das Weisse Haus is a non-profit art organization focused on the promotion and presentation of young art. Celebrating their 10 years anniversary in 2017, Das Weisse Haus has changed no less than 6 locations over the years, its nomadic character actively shaping its program Their show, ‘Current Signs’ curated by Enar de Dios Rodriguez addresses concerns related to our current political landscapes and the raise of far-right, xenophobic and racist ideologies. Sixteen contemporary artists (and artist groups) have been invited to produce protest banners having the question in mind of what statements need to be taken to the streets? What needs to be expressed publicly? Printed in editions of 50, the banners can be taken out of the space and brought to the street, having the public as active participant.

Photo: Exhibition View © Lorenz Seidler (esel.at) 2018

III.

Exhibition: Procrustean Flatulence
Artist: Sebastian Jefford
Venue: Gianni Manhattan Gallery
Dates: March 9th to April 8th, 2018

One of the youngest galleries in Vienna, opened last year, Gianni Manhattan’s vision is creating a space of collaboration and experimentation between all actors of the art filed, while showcasing young and relatively unknown artists. Relatively is the word here, as their next show features the young upcoming British artist Sebastian Jefford with his first solo show in Vienna. His work, combining painting, sculpture, photography and digital platforms, deals with visual perceptions, and his installations are often constructing physical and mental environments.

Photo: Vehicular Reliquary House 2017 © Sebastian Jefford

Take an art tour in Vienna to discover more!

March Art Guide - New York

Recommendations of what to see in the New York art scene this month by our local guide, Maya Yadid. Discover even more on a private tour.

I.

Exhibition: SPRING/BREAK Art Show
Artist: Various Artists
Venue: the former James A. Farley Post Office
Dates: March 6th until March 12th, 2018

SPRING/BREAK Art Show is an annual art fair dedicated to emerging artists and independent curators. While the Armory Art Week holds mostly traditional and established galleries, SPRING/BREAK is known as the fresh alternative. The seventh annual fair will be held at the former James A. Farley Post Office, a historic building in Times Square. More than 100 curators have been selected to present shows that draw on this years theme; "Stranger Comes To Town".

II.

Exhibition: The Armory Show
Artist: Various Artists
Venue: Piers 92 & 94
Dates: March 9th until March 11th

New York's premier fair for contemporary art will feature 200 leading international galleries, innovative artist commissions, and public programs. For the second time, The Armory Show will spotlight “Platform”, a curatorial project featuring large-scale artworks, installations and commissions across Piers 92 & 94. Selected projects include Berndnaut Smilde, an Amsterdam based artist who stages a theatrical set as a site for the repeated generation of a cloud (find his work at pier 94). Another interesting work is by Wilmer Wilson IV, who will occupy Pier 92’s Publications Lounge to show a large-scale installation of a carved salt wall.

III.

Exhibition: Triennial 2018: Songs for Sabotage
Artist: Various Artists
Venue: The New Museum
Dates: Until May 27th, 2018

The New Museum Triennial is a recurring exhibition dedicated to emerging artists from around the world. The main concept of the Triennial is to provide exposure for new artists who are shaping the current discourse of contemporary art.  This year will show approximately thirty artists from nineteen countries. 

Take a private art tour in NYC to discover more!