October 14, 2016–January 8, 2017
La Casa Encendida
Ronda de Valencia 2
28012 Madrid
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–9:45pm
T +34 902 430 322
www.lacasaencendida.es
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La Casa Encendida is pleased to present The Natural Flow of Things, a group exhibition curated by Tania Pardo, Head of Exhibitions Department of La Casa Encendida that reflects on the simplest, most thought-provoking acts of creation. The exhibition proposes an exploration of artworks that draw on nature, either by adopting organic forms or incorporating natural elements. It also reflects on the colour and form resident in the ecosystem.
The exhibition features works by Elena Aitzkoa (b. Apodaka, Bilbao, 1984); Francis Alÿs (b. Antwerp, 1959); Polly Apfelbaum (b. Abington, Pennsylvania, 1955); Fernando Buenache (b. Buenache de la Sierra, Cuenca, 1958); herman de vries (b. Alkmaar, Netherlands, 1931); Fernando García (b. Madrid, 1977); Irene Grau (b. Valencia, 1986); Federico Guzmán (b. Seville, 1964); Milena Muzquiz (b. Tijuana, Mexico, 1972); Nicolás Paris (b. Bogotá, Colombia, 1977); Matthew Ronay (b. Louisville, Kentucky, 1976); Karin Ruggaber (b. Stuttgart, 1969); Adolfo Schlosser (Leitersdorf, Austria, 1939–Bustarviejo, Madrid, 2004); Daniel Steegmann Mangrané (b. Barcelona, 1977); Betty Woodman (b. Norwalk, Connecticut, 1930).
The show’s conceptual point of departure is “I Work Like a Gardener” [Je travaille comme un jardinier], a text by Yvon Taillandier based on his interviews with Joan Miró and first published in the journal XXe siècle in Paris in 1959, in which the artist underscores the simplicity of his approach to art by comparing himself to a farmer.
Some of the artists included in this exhibition—Adolfo Schlosser, herman de vries, Fernando García and Fernando Buenache, for example—were able to see structural qualities in nature and use them to compose and construct works of subtle beauty. Others, like Matthew Ronay and Polly Apfelbaum, have studied organic forms and found in them a cult of regression and the natural. Geometric balance and personal experience of the physical environment are expressed in the works of Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Irene Grau, Federico Guzmán and Francis Alÿs. Craftsmanship linked to plasticity is also present in the pottery of Milena Muzquiz, Elena Aitzkoa and Betty Woodman, or the combination of organic and non-organic elements in the creations of Karin Ruggaber. Finally, the show offers a reflection on the capacity for contemplation of the landscape in the work of Nicolás Paris.
This exhibition is an inventory of simple gestures directly related to artistic creation and to the construction of a narrative of forms using natural elements.
Tania Pardo
Tania Pardo is Head of Exhibitions at La Casa Encendida and an associate lecturer in the Department of Art History III at the Complutense University of Madrid. Previously, she worked as curator and Programme Director of the Laboratorio 987 space at MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (2005–10), and Director of Projects at Fundación Santander 2016 (2009–10).
Workshop
November 15–18: “I Speak for the Hawks: A Workshop on Literature and Nature” based on the work of Gary Snyder. By Nacho Fernández Rocafort.
Two outings to the countryside in connection with the exhibition
Saturday, November 5: “In Search of the Cyclops: A Healing with Wences Lamas.”
Route through Manjirón (Sierra de Madrid)
Saturday, December 10: “Following the Footsteps of Adolfo Schlosser: A Route with Irene Grau.”
Route through Bustarviejo (Sierra de Madrid).
Current exhibition
B. Wurtz: Selected Works, 1970-2016
Press
La Casa Encendida of Fundación Montemadrid
T + 34 91 368 63 58 / comunicacionlce [at] montemadrid.es
