DONTPOSTME #12

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2016

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DONTPOSTME

A MAGAZINE ABOUT CONTEMPORARY ART

#12 ISSUE


D ONT P OST M E - A M AGA ZI N E A BOU T T HE L AT E ST T RE ND S OF C ON TE M PO RARY A RT

E DI T ORS -I N-CHI E F/ART-D IR ECT OR S: AZ AM AT AK HMA DBA EV & Z U LYA K U MU K OVA

E DI T OR: AL I MA K U MU K OVA

COV ER : U FOM AM MU T, 2 0 1 5 I 1 3 0 X 1 0 0 C M, AC RY LI C O N CA NVAS | BY TO RBE N GI E HL ER D ES I GNE D I N S AI NT P E T ER SBU R G, R U SS I A

N O PART OF T HI S MA GAZ I NE CA N BE U S E D W I TH OU T P RI OR W RI T TE N P E RMI S SI ON O F “ DON T POS T ME ” AN Y C ON TE N T OF T HI S P U BL IC AT I ON ( IL LU S T RAT I ONS , P HOT OS & OT HE R T YP E S OF MAT ER IA LS ) C OPY RI GHT E D BY R ES P EC T I VE OW NE RS 18+ # 1 2 I SS U E V K. C OM/ DON T POS T ME | I S SU U .C O M/D ONT P OS TM E | I NS TAGRA M/D ONT P OS TM E _MA GAZ I NE 2 0 16


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S I LV I A G R AV- 6 HENRIK ISAKSSON GARNELL-14

A HNDR AYA PA R LAT O -4 0 ALAN SASTRE-52 TORBEN GIEHLER-68 MARGO WOLOWIEC-82 LUIS MIGUEL BENDAÑA- 96

CONTENTS

ANNA MADIA-30


– UNIVERSE –

S I LV I A G R A V

OVERVIEW

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– U NOC TA QU EL –

HENRIK ISAKSSON GARNELL

OVERVIEW

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Unoctaquel_Sample #08


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‘PART ARTIST, PART MAD SCIENTIST’ “I WORK WITH AN EYE FOR SCULPTURE AND SCIENCE IN MY PICTURES. SHOOTING BOTH WITH ANALOGIC AND DIGITAL CAMERAS, I TRY GIVE LIFE TO INANIMATE OBJECTS, MOSTLY FOUND IN NATURE, AND BUILD NEW LIFEFORMS. I VISIT PLACES, CONSTANTLY FILLING IMAGNATORY TRAVEL JOURNAL.


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MOVING BETWEEN SURREALISM AND CONCRETISM MAKING FALSIFIED EVIDENCES IS WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO ME. IN ADDITION TO MY PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAINING AT KULTURAMA IN STOCKOLM, I'VE ALSO WORKED AS AN ASSISTANT FOR SEVERAL YEARS, INCLUDING SOME TIME SPENT WITH THE PHOTO-BASED ARTIST DAWID, MY MENTOR.” - HENRIK ISAKSSON GARNELL


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Unoctaquel_Sample #16


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Unoctaquel_Sample #17-2b


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Unoctaquel_Sample #41


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Unoctaquel_Sample #47


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Unoctaquel_Sample #49b


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Unoctaquel_Sample #72


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Unoctaquel_Sample #170


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Unoctaquel_Sample #293


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Unoctaquel_Sample #354


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Unoctaquel_Sample #434



Unoctaquel_Sample #16


INTERVIEW

ANNA MADIA SLEEPWALKING

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Il respiro a metĂ , 2014 Oil on canvas, 30x40 cm


DPM: Anna, would you give us some insight into how the "Sleepwalking" series was created? What is the main idea of this series?

the earlier state to the consciousness that is experiencing a process of transformation of reality into a dream state. The human being is made to imagine and that’s how the intermediaries plans of thought and imagination, of the psychic function of the real and of the unreal function, feed and intersect to produce psychological wonders of the human mind.

Anna: Currently, sleep and coma are key elements of this new series titled “Sleepwalking” . Once a year in my family there was the ritual of washing the wool of the mattresses: every corner of the house was filled with soft cream-colored substance and I spent hours and hours playing and imagine snow-capped peaks and bizarre appearances. Today this tradition is for me a rite of love and liberation from the symbolic stigmata of sleepless nights, nightmares and infirmity: the bed once again becomes the crib in which a new cycle starts. Wool, doilies and hair are the gateway to this world suspended between reality and dream. Searching on sleepwalking and other disorders (narcolepsy, hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations…), I started to investigate another kind of portrait: hidden faces, eyes cleared, enigmatic situations in which flashes and personal hallucinations appear. The use of eye contact is well known to engage the viewer, however not showing the subjects eyes arguably engages the viewer more, as it creates feelings of concern.

DPM: As for your technique, do you use any non-traditional materials or methods for your painting? Anna: Speaking about my technique...I can say that my personal direction is to follow the tradition of the ancient masters: oil on linen, glazes. I'm fascinated by the old techniques and the infinite possibilities of oil painting.

DPM: What project are you currently working on? Anna: Actually I'm working on a new project inspired by shadows, silhouettes...and lullabies. Some of my new exhibitions will be held in France and Italy in the nearest future. I will also start new collaborations in Singapore and USA.

DPM: Could you please describe your work process? Where do you get your inspiration? Anna: In the introductory text of the last exhibition of “Sleepwalking”, Beatrice Meunier-Dery uses the expression “woolgathering” which represents

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Lullaby, 2014 Oil on linen, 19x27 cm


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Eosine, 2015 Oil on linen, 30x40 cm


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Hommage Ă M.B.,2013 Oil on linen, 40x50 cm


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Le Dormeur du Val (Omaggio a Arthur Rimbaud), 2015 Oil on linen, 45x50 cm


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The Caress of the Moon, 2014 Oil on linen, 40x40 cm


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Insomnia, 2014 Oil on linen, 100x150 cm


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Sonnambule, 2014 Oil on canvas, 40x50 cm


INTERVIEW

AHND RAYA PARL ATO TOWARDS A N UNCERTA IN S IGHT 2009 - ONGOING

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DPM: To start with, Ahndraya, tell us about yourself, please. Ahndraya: I'm not sure how to approach this question - do you want to use my bio from my website?

DPM: How did you develop your personal photographic style? Where do you get your inspiration? Ahndraya: I've never tried to make my work any particular 'style.' I just shoot intuitively and try to make complicated, thoughtful images. I'm inspired mostly by contemporary literature and poetry. Watching films used to be a large part of my practice, but since having a baby, it has become much harder to do. There are some books I've liked recently: Heidi Julavits ‘The Folded Clock’, Maggie Nelson ‘The Argonauts’, Robert Seydel ‘Songs of S.’, Miranda Mellis ‘The Spoke’, Elisa Albert ‘Afterbirt, and Lindsay Hill ‘Sea of Hooks’.

DPM: And what is your photography philosophy? Ahndraya: My practice is a mix between external research and personal narrative. I use aspects of my life as a spring board to look at the world at large. For instance, my mother was mentally ill. Being raised by her exposed me to an alternate reality than what I was learning at school. On a broader level, it made me look into the construction of normalcy, why some things are pathologized as abnormal, and the tension between objective and subjective realities.

DPM: Would you give us some insight into how the project "TOWARDS AN UNCERTAIN SIGHT" was created? Where did you take your photographs? Ahndraya: It's hard to talk about my work as individual series, because all the series overlap and converge to explore the same themes in slightly different ways. Something most people can relate too is the experience of having a particularly powerful dream, the tone of which goes on to affect your day. In our lives we tend to make a clear distinction between dreams and reality and to relegate dreams to a less reliable position than waking life. In my work I’m interested in the gap between internal images, such as dreams, and the external images we see in the world, and how an oscillation between the two reveals the possibility of different image-realities. This possibility suggests that we think of the world as a conflux of realities rather than one set reality. Since my work does not draw its cohesion through subject matter, but rather through content and concept, it's not important that the images be made in the same place. These photographs have actually been made in many places! Upstate New York, Iceland, Novia Scotia, Los Angeles, Antigua, and San Francisco!

DPM: Name a few photographic artists that you are inspired or influenced by. Ahndraya: There are some contemporary photographers whose work I like: Vivianne Sassen, Lieko Shiga, Daniel Gordon, John Chiara, Ruth Van Beek, and Nicholas Muellner.

DPM: What kind of camera do you shoot with?

DPM: And aside from work, what are in to?

Ahndraya: I shoot primarily with a 4X5 camera. I scan my negatives and make Lambda prints. Sometimes I shoot medium format film as well.

Ahndraya: I like to read. I also enjoy hanging out with my two-year-old daughter, cooking, and thrift store shopping.

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“AHNDRAYA PARLATO WAS BORN IN KAILUA, HAWAII. SHE HAS A B.A. IN PHOTOGRAPHY FROM BARD COLLEGE AND AN MFA FROM CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS. SHE RECENTLY PUBLISHED A BOOK WITH ÉTUDES BOOKS, IS WORKING ON A FORTHCOMING MONOGRAPH WITH KEHRER VERLAG. IN 2013, AHNDRAYA WAS A NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS GRANT RECIPIENT, MAGENTA FOUNDATION EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHER AWARD WINNER AND WAS SHORTLISTED FOR THE MACK FIRST BOOK AWARD. SHE HAS ALSO BEEN A LIGHT WORK GRANT RECIPIENT AND WAS A NOMINEE FOR THE PAUL HUF AWARD FROM THE FOAM MUSEUM IN AMSTERDAM. SHE WAS ALSO A NOMINEE FOR THE SECA AWARD FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. IN 2008, SHE CREATED AND CURATED ART FOR OBAMA, A FUNDRAISER THAT INCLUDED THE WORK OF OVER SIXTY PHOTOGRAPHERS, INCLUDING PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA, KATY GRANNAN, RICHARD MISRACH, LARRY SULTAN, AND WOLFGANG TILLMANS.” bio from Parlato’s website




INTERVIEW

ALAN SASTRE BABBLE SERIES

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Babble #15, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 cm framed at The Ryder, London


DPM: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your creative background?

out of High School, but I was underage and a teacher I respected because she had blue hair and studied Fine Arts suggested I study drawing and painting because I was talented. By mere chance, a few days later I saw a poster of Tàpies and thought “what’s that?” I was mesmerized. Below the poster there was an ad to enroll in the School of Art Llotja. Ironically, I was working in Tàpies’ studio taking care of his paintings several years before he passed away.

Alan: I was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1977. I graduated in Pictorial Procedures and Mural Techniques at the School of Art LLotja in 1998. I realized that I wanted to go further with my education and started my studies at the University of Barcelona. I graduated with a BA (Hons) Fine Arts. In 2006 I won a Seneca scholarship to spend a year at the University of Granada, followed by a DPM: What idea did you put in your latest acrylic fellowship to study abroad for a year at Cooper paintings? Union School of Art in New York. I currently live and work in London. Alan: I’m working on a series of reduced format paintings. They are the same size as a face, so the DPM: How and when did your interest in art viewer has to establish a very intimate distance emerge? with the paintings - the same required for a conversation. These paintings focus on the materiality of paint. There is a space I have to fill with Alan: Since I was a kid I was always interested in something, but I’ll recognize this absence when it games involving chemistry and mineralogy. I was appears. That is the reason you should maintain a fascinated by the reactions between potassium wait-and-see approach. As James Elkins says permanganate with water, or what happens if you burn sulphur. Nowadays, at the studio I still enjoy “painting is easy when you don’t know how and mixing materials without knowing what is going to very difficult when you do” . This is why I work without drafts. To know in advance the result of a happen. I have always considered the right hand painting is to kill the painting. I have entitled this side of my brain more prominent. I wasn’t a good series “Babble” because of the relation of paint student at school. I didn’t like all the subjects, so with the ineffable. When I have to speak about the I went swimming instead of going to the classpaintings, the language eludes me. Literally, what I room. I only went to the lessons I liked: Natural do is painting just paint. science and drawing. In those days, I did graffiti with other kids on the streets. I decided to drop

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Installed paintings at Beers London, 2015

Installed paintings at The Ryder, London


Babble #22, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 cm framed at The Ryder, London


DPM: Is it important for you that your viewer experiences your work through physical means, as opposed to being a purely visual experience? Alan: In my opinion, the paint as a presence is highly significant. Paintings are physical – they exist in a space and have to be experienced in the space where the painting is. Usually we see images of paintings taken with our devices and that is a representation. The images are taken by a machine that only simulates one of our eyes in a static position. This gives us an approach to this painting, but a cropped representation of reality. In particular, the paintings in the “Babble” series have a texture illusion, albeit they are not entirely flattened. Moreover, they are areas of friction between presentation and representation or painting and picture. This effect cannot be observed with photography. The viewer has to see it himself.

DPM: Which artists have you been inspired and influenced by? Alan: It is like your mp3 player. You cannot only have one song, you have many, and depending on the moment, you play one or another. Although there are always some which are fixed. The list is endless, but for instance, my fixed ones nowadays are: Gerhard Richter, Robert Ryman, Albert Oehlen, Sigmar Polke, Antoni Tàpies, Rubens, Tintoretto, Alberto Burri, Pierre Soulages, Robert Diebenkorn, Willem de Kooning, Bram Bogart, Helmut Dorner and Sanchez Cotán.

DPM: What are you currently working on? Alan: I have been working in a reduced format, but now, after winning the Liquitex Acrylic Painting Prize I will be able to work with bigger formats and new materials. So that’s what I am going on to – expanding horizons and having fun at the studio.

DPM: Do you have many exhibitions planned for 2016? Alan: I will start 2016 with my first solo exhibition at Combustión Espontánea Gallery in Madrid. The private view is on 12th November of this year (November, 2015) .

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Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 cm

Babble #16, 2015



Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 cm

Babble #12, 2014


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Babble #27, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 cm framed at The Ryder, London


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Babble #19, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 cm framed at The Ryder, London



Babble #17, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 cm



Acrylic on canvas. 90 x 70 cm

Untitled, 2015


TEXT

TORBEN GIEHLER DEVIL IN THE WOODS BY MAX HENRY

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Matterhorn, 2014 Acrylic on canvas, 190 x 160 cm


ings of Torben Giehler. Using undulant variations of primary and secondary colors his technique has from the outset of his career consistently engaged the virtual in order to give order to new forms in painting. The rigors of geometric abstraction as influenced by early Modernism right up to Gerhard Richter’s color charts, Neo- geo, and a concern with the topolPainting has fought off its own obsolescence despite the encroachment of technology. Our vi- ogy of architectonic space are his milieu. Natural forms found in the landscape and reworked sual reference points have been altered, the synaptic response to stimuli modulated through in Photoshop are often modified into vortexes of overlapping spatial juxtapositions directly by virtual means. Working in a paradoxical position, painters must reconcile the weight of their hand on the canvas. Drips and translucent imperfections contrast with straight hard-edged predecessor’s output and social constructs angles, perspective is a harmony of improvised while conveying something of the surrounding contrariness in subdued and animated shades culture that’s contemporary. of color. For Torben Giehler and his generation of artists Such a methodical filtration of cold digital and who came of age in the late 1990’s and early actual physical data on canvas is a poetics of 00’s, the computer, Internet, and virtual interfree-form structural fragments made whole. face brought about a new discourse built around the old (some might say outmoded) cul- Giehler thus reconciles the jagged flaws you might find in a low-res j-peg with the warm untural signifiers. Reality and perception shifted canny touch of the human hand. from an interior state related to the anima of the artistic persona to a mechanistic simulation, a bottomless well where anything might be possible, hence the birth of chat rooms, social networking, and alternate lifestyles such as “Second Life”, and new architectural forms. There are numerous ways one can look at abstraction today through the rear-view lens of 20th century history. From the geometric to expressionist, to color field and minimal, the last decade has offered us an early 21st century remix of styles and forms with new twists.

As related, the schism of real time in the physical state and the abyss of the virtual ought to be contemplated when considering the paintPress release for the exhibition "Devil In The Woods" at Suzanne Tarasieve Galerie, Paris in 2009

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Thebes, 2012 Acrylic on canvas, 180 x 130 cm


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Blame Hofmann, 2013 Acrylic on canvas, 130 x 100 cm


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Higgs Boson Blues, 2013 Acrylic on canvas, 201 x 163 cm


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Ecate, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 130 x 100 cm


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Guerilla Radio, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 130 x 100 cm


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Lore, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 80 x 60 cm


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3 Libras, 2012 Acrylic on canvas, 80 x 60 cm


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Ufomammut, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 130 x 100 cm


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Alpe d'Huez, 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 240 x 190 cm



Acrylic on canvas, 201 x 163 cm detail view

Higgs Boson Blues, 2013


INTERVIEW

MARGO WOLOWIEC

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Seen but not heard, 2015 Hand woven polyester, cotton, linen, dye sublimation ink, fabric dye. 81 x 57 inches


DPM: To start with, Margo, tell us a little about yourself and your creative background. Margo: I was born in the Metro Detroit area. My family moved around a bit when I was young, we lived in England for a few years, then moved back to a suburb of Detroit when I was in grade school. Experiencing cross-continent changes at a young age gave me an expanded view of the world and pushed me to ask a lot of questions about my surroundings. Most of my background in the arts stems from my studies at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I dipped my toes into everything there from painting and drawing to printmaking, ceramics, photography and critical theory and finally found some footing in the world of Fiber. I gained a foundation of knowledge in craft theory, ideas around labor, femininity, and the relationship between the hand and the digital. That was a really formative time for me.

DPM: How and when did your interest in art begin? Margo: I played the piano at age four and continued competitively until I was 15. I’m pretty sure everything I do is influenced by my experience with music at a young age. It’s an abstract language of expression that informed the way that I interact with materials. Piano in particular has a lot of crossover with weaving, (my primary form of making.) They both build structure and rhythm in a very linear way while allowing for gestures to interrupt and change the form. Even the physical motion of weaving at a loom mimics the action of playing a piano. Besides that, I fell in love with art at a young age during a class trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts, one of my all-time favorite museums. Standing in front of a red and orange Rothko, a sign next to the painting asked how you would

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explain the color red to a person that had never seen the color red before. It totally floored me, I loved the thought of trying to explain something that evades language.

DPM: What is the main idea of your current artwork? As far as I know you combine several techniques with social-media sourced images to create your works. Could you please be more specific on a technical side? Margo: My current work is centered around the concept of materializing the immaterial while looking at our relationship to the digital world. I am a product of the digital age. Young enough to be completely influenced by it, but old enough to still remember what came before it. I am mesmerized by our seamless shift into an image saturated, 24/7-share-everything-all-the-time culture. It is happening at a speed that doesn’t allow for comprehension or even objection, and I wonder how that is changing our relationship to objects, memory and each other. In my current work I mine digitally shared images using various automated algorithms, treating photo-sharing platforms as open-source, international image databases. I cut up, pattern and combine images together, transfer them to thread using industrial inks and weave the threads together on a floor loom. Some images come through legibly, others obscured, always leaving the original context of the image in question. For me, this body of work is a reflection of my own anxiety ridden relationship to technology I am nostalgic for things that are on the verge of disappearing, like 24-hour photo labs, but I’m also attached to my smart phone and haven’t printed a physical photograph in years. There is a constant push and pull between forces and that’s what I’m questioning.


Granpalazzo 2015, Installation views, 2015


Spring Fever, 2015 Handwoven polyester, cotton, linen, dye-sublimation ink, fabric dye, steel armature. 96 x 48 x 48 inches


DPM: Is it important for you that your viewer DPM: What are you currently working on? experiences your work through physical means, as opposed to being a purely visual experience? Margo: I am currently working on producing a book with Anat Ebgi Gallery in LA, and am looking forward to a collaboration with a fashion designer Margo: My work is presented as an art object for in Brooklyn who translates imagery into knit viewing as opposed to say, a piece of clothing or patterns. In my studio, I am working towards some other tactile experience. But, my work is solidifying a series of altered found film footage. rooted in physicality and it is important for my It’s an ongoing experimentation that is challengwork to be viewed in person, not just through a JPEG. It has a tangible life of its own that can’t be ing me to think about the moving image in a new replicated digitally, and in general I’m a big fan of way. experiencing things in person. I’m not entirely convinced by or interested in the feedback loop DPM: Do you have many exhibitions planned for that some artists are currently playing with - work 2016? that starts and ends in a digital source. I am tied to interventions that place the work in a physical Margo: Yes, a few upcoming solo shows and art realm. fairs. I am particularly excited about a project in San Francisco with some of my favorite curators, Jackie Im and Aaron Harbor, in a new space they DPM: Which artists have you been influenced just secured in the bay area. They are always putgreatly along the way? ting together thoughtful, rigorous shows. Ours is slated for March 2016. Margo: I was very influenced by Fluxus artists early on in my practice. I love their use of language and non-objects, focusing on the event DPM: And aside from work, what are you into? or experience rather than the thing. Early video artists like Yvonne Rainer have had a large impact Margo: I am really into collecting books and on me. Her video “Hand movie” opened up ways of ephemeral art objects. My financeé and I have a collection of objects that we lovingly refer to as thinking about gesture as a language. I’ve also “illegitimate art.” We have a really great Kenneth always been influenced by contemporary comNoland watercolor that was damaged by Hurricane posers that push the boundaries of music, of Sandy in NYC, and a sculptural wall piece from the course John Cage, but also the intonarumori Russian avant-garde that we can’t prove isn’t a sound machines of Luigi Russolo, Maryanne fake but we believe is real. I’m into lost histories Amacher who engineered music that created a and hidden narratives that are best told through visceral phenomenon of the “third ear” , and Pauline Oliveros’ concept of “deep listening” . an object and its traces.

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A Specific Direction, 2014 Handwoven polyester, cotton, linen, dye-sublimation ink, fabric dye. 38 x 28 inches


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Seeds, 2014 Handwoven polyester, cotton, linen, dye sublimation ink, fabric dye. 38 x 28 inches


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La Mer Insomniaque, Installation view at Laura Bartlett Gallery, London, 2015


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Margo Wolowiec, Installation view at Anat Ebgi Gallery, Los Angeles, 2014


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Almost Otherwise, 2014 Handwoven polyester, cotton, linen dye, sublimation ink, fabric dye. 52 x 46 inches


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Rounding Up, 2014 Handwoven polyester, cotton, linen dye, sublimation ink, fabric dye. 52 x 46 inches



Handwoven polyester, cotton, linen, dye-sublimation ink, fabric dye, steel armature. 96 x 48 x 48 inches detail view

Spring Fever, 2015


INTERVIEW

LUIS MIGUEL BENDAÑA

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Untitled, 2014 Custom machine-knit cotton, marker, VHS tape on recycled opera envelopes


DPM: Miguel, tell us a little about yourself please.

Miguel: I am definitely interested in the Arte Povera movement especially the work of Lucio Fontana, but also artists like Edvard Munch and Miguel: Hi! My name is Luis Miguel Bendaña. I grew up between upstate New York and Nicaragua. movements like Die Brücke (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner) and more contemporary artists like Both of my parents are from Nicaragua. When I was younger I participated in plays and musicals, Mindy Rose Schwartz, Isa Genzken, among others. and in high school my friends and I would make short films, I have always been interested in mak- I use a knitting machine to create my own fabrics ing things. I am also now co-director of Queer and textiles. Similar to the aggressive nature of Thoughts, a contemporary art gallery in New York Fontana's work my knits often rip or get pulled City. and create holes and appear destroyed or tattered. I also incorporate oil pastel drawings, and other DPM: How and when did you get interested in art? collected, found and or painted on materials. I am very inspired by the expressive qualities of Munch and Kirchner’s work. Miguel: I have always had an interest in working with soft materials, string and fabric, fibers. I like using materials that could be seen as useless and DPM: What is the main idea of your latest artaccepting certain unplanned outcomes. For works? instance, more recently I have incorporated VHS tape and bits of collected used envelopes to some There are many ideas but I guess more recently I of my works. have been thinking about beauty, the constant fear of death, and an endless anxiety. I have a fascinaDPM: When viewing your works, a legacy of tion with classic notions of beauty and its demise, artworks by Duchamp, Rauschenberg and visual especially from operas like “Rusalka” by Antonín Dvorák, “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi and films artists of Arte Povera come to mind. But, by all means, your style is unique. What materials do you like “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” I enjoy the conflicting aesthetics of comedy and tragedy. use for your artworks?

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Installation views


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Yellow Rose, 2014 Acrylic, enamel, liquid latex on chiffon


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Fruits of Heaven, 2013 Custom-machine knit cotton on vinyl


Endive Salad with Grotesque Cream Sauce, 2014 Custom machine-knit cotton on VHS tape


DPM: Could you explain the titles of your latest artworks "Fruits of Heaven", "Endive Salad with Grotesque Cream Sauce" and…? Miguel: I tend to make work that contemplates a sense of idealization but because of the materials I use I suppose there is also a realization of something gone wrong, an awareness of the miserable aspects of life. While I may say or make things that are dramatic I do have a sense of humor about this drama. The title, "Endive Salad with Grotesque Cream Sauce" was meant to create a comical feeling of disgust.

What are you currently working on? My recent works no longer use panels or stretcher bars to create “painting like” works. They now exist free of this framework.

DPM: Do you have many exhibitions planned for 2016? Miguel: I will be exhibiting work in the upcoming Nicaraguan Biennial this February 2016, curated by Oliver Kandt. This spring I have a solo exhibition in Portland at Worksound International. Sam Lipp and I are also planning a two person show in Chicago at Beautiful Gallery.

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Installation view, 2015


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Untitled, 2013 Custom-machine knit cotton on VHS tape


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I'm Touching Hands With Someone Seriously Beautiful, 2013 Custom-machine knit cotton on vinyl



Installation view, 2015


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Salad, No onion (falls lifeless), 2015 Machine knit polyester, polyurethane, receipt, last page of Elektra libretto detail view


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Putrid Flower (Sandinistas), 2015 Machine knit polyester, polyurethane, Xerox print detail view



Machine knit polyester, pen on paper detail view

Untitled (Miau), 2015


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S I LV I A G R A V - 6

HENRIK ISAKSSON GARNELL-14

ANNA MADIA-30

AHND RAYA PARL ATO- 40

ALAN SASTRE-52

TORBEN GIEHLER-68

MARGO WOLOWIEC-82

LUIS MIGUEL BENDAÑA-96


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