Pliegue Y Despliegue (Folding and Unfolding) by Ignacio Muñoz Vicuña by gallery nine5

Pliegue y Despliegue (Folding And Unfolding) new works by Ignacio Mu単oz Vicu単a

Exhibition: January 16 - February 28, 2014

My works stems from a reflection on the subject of painting and matter. From where do we approach and face painting? Which is its space and place? I seek to recover the meeting of the body with the tactile experience and its materiality, while I take advantage of the malleability and the possibility of constant mutation of paint. In order to achieve this, I use the painting as a substance, manipulating the physical consistency of the elements, applying layers and then leaving it to dry off, creating sheets of dried paint that suggest a soft volume. I understand the frame as the skeleton of my work, and the paint as its skin. In my work I dispense with the canvas. Just as men do, the piece has a body, muscles, and skin. Ignacio MuĂąoz VicuĂąa

Opposite: Pages from Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sketchbook

Marking the Chilean artist’s debut in North America, gallery nine5 is pleased to present our first exhibition of Ignacio Muñoz Vicuña’s newest body of work, Pliegue Y Despliegue (Folding and Unfolding). The latest of his sculptural paintings, Pliegue Y Despliegue speaks not only to the literal physical process of his piece’s creation, but also to the discovery of paint’s inherent characteristics. The culmination of a three-year long exploratory process, the exhibition presents works that continue to build upon the artist’s fascination with anatomical construction. Vicuña creates a fluid body, bending and stretching a skin of acrylic paint across stretcher bars of bone. The dynamism of his vivid paintings mimics his method: at once carefully designed and instantaneously manufactured. Working through his nostalgia for the formal quality of painting borne of an increasingly digital landscape, Vicuña’s textile-like works remind the viewer of the tangibility of paint as a medium, upending its state as a device drained of all its vicissitude. His pieces extend out into the viewing sphere, creating an acute awareness of space and volume, unfolding the true abilities of paint to “fill” a canvas. Color is integral to the planning of his works. Drawing on his architectural training, the artist begins his process with a sketch of his chosen color-inspired vision. In the finished works, movement represents the personalities of their colors.

Viridian, a rich matte green, exudes a quiet dominance with simple and unadorned drapes that fall majestically across the piece. Bermellon’s frame is playfully exposed in shocking pink. The single reflective silvery sheet of Plateado is laid gently across a framework of small squares, tucked around corners and joints. Dual, which represents Vicuña’s first ever foray into the draping of two separate colors, wrestles between the heaviness of deep purple and lightness of silver to present a harmonious whole. The rhythmic ritual of his method teases out the purest aspects of the medium, from its structured conception to its uncontrollable execution. With simultaneous appreciation and manipulation, Vicuña molds his capricious tools into exquisitely contained squares of fluidity. Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, Vicuña holds degrees and certifications in Architecture, Gastronomy, Visual Arts, and Illustration and Graphic Narration. In 2011, he was the artist-inresidence at BLOC in Santiago, Chile. Vicuña has exhibited extensively throughout Chile and South America. His work is held in monumental Chilean collections, including at the Museum of Contemporary Chilean Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Valdivia, and in public parks. Awards include first place for Urban Art from the Chilean Foundation of Culture and Artists of the 21st Century from Central Extension Catholic University.

Ignacio Muñoz Vicuña, a talented Chilean artist, brings to New York his shining, enameled, wrinkled, folded and colored textures. Consistency and volume are the key words to get acquainted with his work. His surfaces don’t stay quiet in their bi-dimensional frame. As the Spanish expression goes, “ellas saltan a la vista de quien las observa” (they hit the sight of the observer) as a perpetual dance of waves. The Consulate General of Chile in New York is proud to introduce Ignacio Muñoz Vicuña to the connoisseurs of the Big Apple as a representative of a new generation of artists that has come to join the active and ever expanding community of Chilean artists and cultural mediators in New York. Julio Fiol Consul General of Chile

Ignacio Muñoz Vicuña, un talentoso artista chileno trae a Nueva York sus texturas resplandecientes, esmaltadas, rrugosas, plegadas y llenas de color. La consistencia y el volumen son las palabras claves para conocer su obra. Sus superficies no se quedan tranquilas en un marco bi-dimensional. Como la expresión española dice: “Ellas Saltan a la vista de quienes las observan” (“they hit the sight of the observer”) como una danza perpetua de olas. El Consulado General de Chile en Nueva York se enorgullece en presentar a Ignacio Muñoz Vicuña a los “conocedores” de arte de la Gran Manzana, como un representante de una nueva generación de artistas que ha venido a unirse a la comunidad activa y en constante expansión de los artistas chilenos y mediadores culturales en Nueva York. Julio Fiol Cónsul General de Chile

Mora Acrylic on stretcher bars 71 x 71 in | 180 x 180 cm