María Luisa Fernández
Je, je… luna
Works produced between 1979 and 1997
18 June–13 September 2015
AZ Azkuna Zentroa
Plaza Arriquibar, 4
48010 Bilbao
Spain
The exhibition Je, je… luna proposes a journey through the work of artist María Luisa Fernández (b. 1955, León) where different groups of sculptures, drawings and installations are listed, which to date have not been shown retrospectively. These works produced between 1979 and 1997 form part of the different essays around the figure of an Ideal Artist travelling through the sculptress’s production until her last individual exhibition in 1997, a time when she gave way to a long period of inactivity.
The exhibition starts with pieces belonging to the CVA (Artistic Surveillance Committee) period, a group set up with Juan Luis Moraza in 1979 and active until 1985. CVA was part of the so-called “New Basque Sculpture,” a reference group of the artistic practices and discourses which marked the ’80s in Spain, focused on the debates circulating in the international environment which were confronted with the contextual references.
Fernández’s works are characterized by the incorporation of disparate artistic languages ranging from post-conceptual and minimalism to elements from the sculpture tradition of the Basque Country, where the artist was trained, condensed in the formal and theoretical research of Jorge Oteiza (1908–2003). Likewise the presence of doublé entendres and puns are frequent in her works of art, as well as the incorporation of a critical vision with official versions of the 20th-century history of art.
Je, je… luna presents important series of works, which include Art works and objects (1984–85), Leyendas (1985–86), Red Seas (1986–87), Long Hair (1988), Red Sculptures (1989), Spanish Grandee 14 times over (1989–90), Burladeros (1990) or Corridas (1996–97). Expressionist mocking (1993) and Ideal artists (1990–97), two installations comprising the main lines of research developed by the artist during her career, are also included throughout the exhibition.
María Luisa Fernández’s work has been displayed in exhibitions such as Mínima Resistencia. Prácticas artísticas durante las décadas de los 80 y 90, Reina Sofía National Museum Art Centre MNCARS 2013–2014; Ideal Artists, Carlos III Hall, Pamplona, 1997; Expressionist mocking, Trayecto Gallery, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1993; Sculptures, CREDAC, Paris, 1990; Oliva Arauna Gallery, Madrid, 1990; and Mitos y Delitos, Metrónom Hall, Barcelona and CAM, Bilbao, 1985. Her works form part of the collections of Reina Sofía National Museum Art Centre (Madrid); MACBA (Barcelona); La Caixa Foundation (Barcelona); Artium, Basque Centre-Museum of Contemporary Art (Vitoria-Gasteiz); Tous Foundation (Barcelona); and different private collections.
This is the first exhibition to review the artist’s production and will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Vigo, MARCO, in 2016.
