The Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam invites you to SEEK INSIDE the Бункер / Bunker Gallery by curated.

No title. Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2020/ José Estevão, 2021. Acrylic over cardboard

The Collaborative Automatic Painting Amsterdam, invites you to SEEK INSIDE the Бункер/ Bunker Gallery

CAPA: SEEK INSIDE

No title. Eduardo Rojo, 2020 / Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021. Acrylic on paper.

Painting speaks for itself An idea about Collaborative Automatic Painting La pintura habla por sí misma. Una idea sobre la pintura automática colaborativa

I could talk about what the Automatic Painting Amsterdam Collective / Collaborative “CAPA1” means and its link within the history of contemporary painting and art history... I could talk about ideas, programs, theorists, artists, researchers, concepts, movements, groups, types of aesthetics, through their form and content, their analogy with other types of media, languages, and any other artistic proposals. But I think this is not the place, and even less so, to present an exhibition of current CAPA works that seek to intimate with the experimental spaces of Бункер/ Bunker in the cities of Varna and Ezerets (Bulgaria). Podría soltar una parrafada sobre lo que significa la Pintura Automática Colaborativa/Colectiva Ámsterdam “CAPA” y su vínculo con la historia de la pintura contemporánea y la historia del arte... Podría hablar de ideas, programas, teóricos, artistas, investigadores, conceptos, movimientos, grupos, tipos de estética, a través de su forma y contenido, su analogía con otro tipo de medios, lenguajes y otras propuestas artísticas. Pero creo que este no es el CAPA from Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam. The creation of CAPA is situated towards the end of the 20th century, when in the summer of 1991, the Chilean artist Freddy Flores Knistoff exiled in Amsterdam in1985 began to experimentate into the nature of pure automatism and its possibilities together with the Dutch painter Rik Lina, who at that time was participating with F. F. Knistoff himself in the International movement of Phases founded by Édouard Jaguer in 1952. Phases represented the direct continuation of the French and International Surrealist Movement, bringing together a series of artists in their collective exhibitions of well-differentiated trends in order to achieve a principle of unifying the trends linked to the more traditional Surrealism and the Experimental ones that were grouped in the artists of the current of Lyrical Abstraction. It is interesting to note that this term owed its name to the work of Wassily Kandinsky and his contribution to the theory of affections applied to painting, to introduce rhythm, balance and composition to automatic work in its improvisations of 1910 that in the eyes of André Breton represented the ideal of automatism. Purpose of this mention It should be remembered that W. Kandinsky was presented as a guest of honor at the Salon des Surindépendants in 1933. 1

caso y menos para presentar una exhibición de trabajos de CAPA en los que los espacios con los cuales intiman, son de carácter netamente experimental. Bunkers de las ciudades de Varna y Ezerets (Bulgaria).

To begin with, I would like to define CAPA as a transversal collective/movement of artists that investigates the phenomenon of pure painting and production through physical automatism2 as the key to creation. CAPA has a long historical trajectory full of ups and downs like any artistic movement, changes of meaning and different phases of development in its semantic and morphological processes, inside and outside the nucleus of its participants. In this sense, we will talk about what CAPA is today, Capa in 2021, since the past has not had too much influence on the proposals that it is currently experiencing. Like the artistic proposal of modification, appropriation, neo appropriation, detournement, intervention, processual art, minimal art, traditional expressionism, abstract expressionism, relational arts... being some of CAPA’s most constant interests when it comes to producing collaboratively. Para empezar me gustaría definir a CAPA como un colectivo/movimiento de artistas transversal que investiga en torno al fenómeno de la pura pintura y producción a través del automatismo físico como clave hacia a la creación. CAPA tiene una larga trayectoria histórica llena de altibajos como todo movimiento artístico, cambios de sentido y distintas fases de desarrollo en Physical automatism is a type of pictorial practice related to automatism, but understood as a free process already unmarked from the idea of the psychic as the central nucleus. One of the first artists to see this transformation of “automatism” was the Danish experimental artist Asger Jorn (1914-1973) in his theoretical writing published in the first issue of CoBrA magazine, “Discours aux Pingouins” from 1948 (as a critical response to the Surrealist mass). Jorn for the first time referred to automatism in painting as something physical and not mental. Referring to it as an artistic process in which not only the mental, but also the vital, organic and materialistic interact, thus discredit the general idea of automatism as something psychic. In relation to this criticism, Andre Breton himself a few years before, in a capital text published in the avantgarde magazine Minotaure. Wrote “Des tendances les plus recent des peinture surréaliste” (1939) , critizacing the mentality with which some of his painters friends practice the automatism. He called them shy because of correcting the automatism itself when painting. He understood that the automatism is something that needs to be by its own and not constantly corrected. 2

sus procesos semánticos y morfológicos, dentro y fuera del núcleo de sus participantes. En este sentido, hablaremos de lo que es CAPA hoy, Capa en 2021 ya que el pasado tampoco es que haya influido en demasía en las propuestas que actualmente experimenta. Como la propuesta artística de la modificación, apropiación, neo apropiación, détournement, intervención, arte procesual, arte minimal, expresionismo tradicional, expresionismo abstracto, artes relacionales… siendo algunos de los intereses de CAPA, más constantes a la hora de producir colaborativamente.

CAPA was historically baptized as the “Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam”, but this name, due to the same progress and weight of its proposal and concept of work, has become obsolete and that is why since 2018, it has also begun to be intimately related to the concept of collaboration as the cornerstone of its process, that’s why in some occasions is also called “Collaborative Automatic Painting Amsterdam”. Let’s say that this metamorphosis has been created as a result of his own way of recycling itself and to position this concept, not as just another concept, but rather as a fundamental pillar of what CAPA is today. In this sense, we can argue that not only this concept, but others also seem to be shaping the philosophy of its premises and the development of its creative and presentation processes, such as the participatory, connective, and performative... CAPA históricamente se bautizó como “Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam”, pero este nombre por el mismo progreso y peso de su propuesta y concepto de trabajo se ha ido quedando caduco y es por eso que desde 2018, también se ha empezado a relacionar íntimamente con el concepto de colaboración como piedra angular de su proceso, pasando a llamarse “Collaborative Automatic Painting Amsterdam” en algunas ocasiones. Digamos que esta metamorfosis se ha creado como resultado de su propia manera de reciclarse y para posicionar este concepto, no como un concepto más, sino más bien como pilar fundamental de lo que CAPA es hoy. En este sentido, podemos argumentar que no únicamente este concepto, sino otros también parecen ir moldeando la filosofía de sus premisas y el desarrollo de sus procesos creativos y de presentación, como

los de lo participativo, lo conectivo y performativo…

Ultimately, what we would like to explore in this exhibition is that CAPA’s works, apart from the above, is that since they are collaborative modifications (carried out between two or more participants), they are always presented as unknown works, that is, untitled works. In fact, they very rarely have a title. - And now you would wonder why they don’t have it. - Well, very simple, because we believe that automatic painting constantly evolves in the eyes of the artist and the viewer himself (the one who contemplates the artwork). Although the very specificity of the painting is in the material and vital impasto of its strokes, CAPA’s paintings also appear like an open window to question itself, thus they do not represent an answer about the same pictorial fact, but rather experiments or collaborative exercises, indecipherable works; represented in an amalgam of forms and aesthetic contents that follow a metaphor of the relational in art and in which the line and color are strengthened and modified indefinitely in a processual and collaborative practice that superimposes the vitality and energy of its creators. The CAPA process represents in this last aspect an exercise for the intellect of those who practice it and operate under this type of painting. The CAPA process is a way of finding something unknown through the vitalistic act of painting and the contemplative attention of the observer to find other meanings or suggestions. En definitiva, lo que nos gustaría explorar en esta exposición es que las obras de CAPA, al margen de lo anterior es que al ser obras modificaciones colaborativas (realizadas entre dos o más participantes) es que siempre suelen presentarse como obras ignotas, es decir, obras sin título. De hecho muy raramente tienen título. - Y ahora se preguntarán por qué no lo tienen. - Pues muy sencillo, porque creemos que la pintura-automática evoluciona constantemente a los ojos del artista y del mismo espectador (el que contempla la obra). Aunque la propia especificidad de la pintura esté en el empaste matérico y vital de sus trazos, las pinturas de CAPA también se asoman como ventanas abiertas a cuestionarse a sí mismas, así

no representan una respuesta sobre el mismo hecho pictórico, sino más bien experimentos o ejercicios colaborativos, obras de carácter indescifrable; representadas en una amalgama de formas y contenidos estéticos que siguen una metáfora de lo relacional en el arte y en las que el trazo y el color se potencian y modifican indefinidamente en una práctica procesual y colaborativa que superpone la vitalidad y energía de sus artífices. El proceso CAPA representa en este último aspecto un ejercicio para el intelecto de quienes lo practican y operan bajo este tipo de pintura. El proceso CAPA es una manera de encontrar algo desconocido a través del acto vitalista de la pintura y la atención contemplativa de quien observa para encontrar otros significados o sugerencias.

It is necessary to remember that CAPA, in addition to being a type of open painting, is also a transversal space, which from the beginning is presented as a blank space, an unlimited space, without borders, previous experiences and impediments, a free space to “investigate” and cannibalize in a way. Es necesario recordar que CAPA, además de ser un tipo de pintura abierta, también es un espacio transversal, que desde un primer momento se presenta como un espacio en blanco, un espacio ilimitado, sin fronteras, experiencias previas e impedimentos, un espacio libre para conquistar y canibalizar en cierto grado.

CAPA is a communication channel of a transversal nature for artists and thinkers who in some way operate in a traffic of pictorial information and who in their independent investigations, each participant, presents their work to be again investigated, revised and “modified” in favor of the pure artistic act. It is interesting to be able to appreciate and know how to differentiate each artist in her optics and work perspective. Without a doubt, this is the bulk of the proposal of this movement. CAPA es un canal de comunicaciones de carácter transversal para artistas y pensadores que de algún modo operan en un tráfico de información

pictórico y que en sus investigaciones independientes, cada participante, presenta su trabajo para ser nuevamente investigado, revisado y “modificado” nuevamente en favor del puro acto artístico. Es interesante el poder apreciar y saber diferenciar a cada artista en su óptica y perspectiva de trabajo. Sin duda, este es el grueso de la propuesta de este movimiento.

Finally, this is how we got to this exhibition. A special exhibition since in addition to presenting 49 works made in an intense and busy correspondence between its members (Dublin, Amsterdam, Seattle, Mallorca, and Wormerveer) via post, due to the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Also special becasue CAPA is celebrating its 30 years as a collective/movement, since its founding in 1991 at Freddy Flores Knistoff ’s studio in Amsterdam. The Capa members gathered for this exhibition are: Freddy Flores Knistoff, José Estevão, James Burns, Jorge J. Herrera Fuentealba, Patricio Álvarez Aragón, Marcos Vidal Font and Eduardo Rojo. It is also worth mentioning that this exhibition of works in a small format will be divided into two parts. The first part will be in the main gallery of the Бункер / Bunker project in Varna and the Bunker space in Ezerets in northern Bulgaria. Both exhibitions will be directed by the director of the Бункер / Bunker Project of Varna, the Bulgarian artist and curator Neno Belchev in collaboration with Patricio Álvarez Aragón, the main curator of this project. Por último, es así como llegamos a esta exposición. Una exposición especial ya que además de presentar 49 obras realizadas en una intensa y ajetreada correspondencia entre sus miembros en (Dublin, Amsterdam, Seattle, Mallorca y Wormerveer) por medio del correo, debido a las restricciones causadas por la pandemia del Covid-19. Capa está celebrando sus 30 años como colectivo/movimiento, desde su fundación en 1991 en la casa-taller de Freddy Flores Knistoff en Ámsterdam. Los miembros de Capa reunidos para esta exposición son: Freddy Flores Knistoff, José Estevão, James Burns, Jorge J. Herrera Fuentealba, Patricio Álvarez Aragón, Marcos Vidal Font y Eduardo Rojo . También cabe mencionar que esta

exhibición de trabajos en pequeño formato estará dividida en dos partes. La primera parte será en la galería principal del proyecto Бункер/ Bunker de Varna y la sala Bunker de Ezerets al norte de Bulgaria. Ambas exhibiciones estarán dirigidas por el director del proyecto Бункер/ Bunker de Varna, el artista y curador búlgaro Neno Belchev en colaboración con Patricio Álvarez Aragón, curador principal de este proyecto. Exhibition statement Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 22 march 2021.

About CAPA members Freddy Flores Knistoff born in Chile in 1948. He lives in Amsterdam since 1985. He exhibits with the movement Phases of Paris, In Britany, São Paulo, Arras, Mayene and Santiago de Chile. He exhibited at the Bochum Museum in 1993 at the exhibition “Surrealism and Latin America”. He also have participated with artiss linked with the Fluxus Movement at the Hybriden Verlag Press of Belrin since mid-90s. He has also published artist’s books with Gallery 13 and Kunstraum (DE). Founder of the Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam movement in Amsteram in 1991 in collaboration with Rik Lina. Capa has participated in collectives exhibitions all around the workd including the Hanover (Gallery 13), Paris (Fiap), São Paulo, Amsterdam, Santiago de Chile, Los Angeles, Palma de Mallorca and now Bulgaria (Ezeteres and Varna). His painting is related with CoBra, Phases and artists like Asger Jorn, Pierre Alecschinsky, Edouard Jaguer, Enrico Baj and Roberto Matta. José Estevão born in Aljustrel (Portugal) in 1952. He lives in the Netherlands since 1972. He studied Cultural Affairs, Political Sciencie and Philosophy. He worked as Cultural and Community Organizaer in Amsterdam. In his youth he was connected to the group of surrealist youths in Évora. He was a member of the Surrealist group in Holland. Editor of the Surrealist Magazine Droomschar and member of the Council for the Arts at the House of Amsterdam. Currently he is working and linked to CAPA and contributes regularly with Fluxus movemet in Berlin via Hybriden-Verlag run by Harmut. James Burns born in Yankton, South Dakota the US in 1948. Today is based in Seattle. About my CAPA encounter: before I moved to Amsterdam from Seattle in 1993, my painting method was a free form of expression inspired by Robert Motherwell. The most fascinating results in my work came about when I was painting consciously in one place, the more interesting marks were unintentionally made in another place. This is of course the theory of automatism which was the guiding surrealist methodology of American Abstract Expressionism. The Chilean born artist, Roberto Matta, while residing in New York during WWII, was the mentor for the younger Motherwell. Soon after I arrived in Amsterdam, I met, the also Chilean born artist, Freddy Flores Knistoff. He came to be my friend and mentor and eventually invited me to participate in Cobra inspired, multicultural, Collective Automatic Painting. Where I participate until today.

Jorge J Herrera Fuentealba born in Concepción (Chile) in 1970. Today paint and live in Wormerveer, the Netherlands. His work consists not only of creating a abstract work and re-organizing the different elements of it, no it goes further. It is within his reach to make up new constellations or spaces that once again question the existing ones... The fine and complicated structures he creates are put to chaos again or reveal most unlikely spaces that are reinvented in sometimes automatic, sometimes experimental new structures. And of course the term constructivism lights up in his work. While in most paintings the novelty wears off after looking some time at the painting... with Jorge’s creations you don’t simply look at the paintings, you have to get into the painting to get a sense of what is going on. He’s had exhibitions in Germany (Berlin, Hamburg), Czech Republic, Spain, (Barcelona, Mallorca), Portugal, USA (New York and Pennslyvania) Santiago de Chile and the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Leeuwarden and Zaanstad). Patricio Álvarez Aragón, born in Santiago de Chile in 1984. Is an art historian, hybrid artista (interested in traditional languages and new media approaches), and emerging curator based in the city of Dublin (Ireland) since 2018. During his life, he has also lived in Santiago de Chile, Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and Miami (the US). As an emerging curator, he is actively involved in the presentation of international contemporary artists acting as a catalyst and new content/production generator and, on the other hand, as a hybrid artist, he is very interested in the research and development of “automatism” as a key to creation within contemporary art (traditional languages) and new media arts. Patricio describes himself as a very curious person eager for discovery. With a background in Art History (University of the Balearic Islands, Spain / University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain 2008-2015) a Specialization in Contemporary Culture (University of the Balearic Islands, 2015) and a Master/Specialization in Curatorship and Exhibitions Management (Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Berlín, 2019); Patricio is also interested in the collectives contexts (relational aspects/aesthetics) in which art is produced and performed, having a special interest in the objects of self-organization, culture of collaboration and cooperativism. His practice is oriented towards the development of new co-creation formats in collaborative and networked environments, via archival research, exhibition projects, design research, and informative activities (seminars, art laboratories, talks, round-tables) open to the participation of general and artists communities. He understands his researcher/curator role as an active mediation of thought-processes derived from the experience of encountering art, encouraged by the concepts of participation, collaboration, social connectivity, and other “relational” aspects. In addition, he is also an active member of CAPA, since 2017, (the Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam, founded in Amsterdam in 1991) acting as a researcher and curator. Marcos Vidal Font, Spain 1967. Graduated at the San Carlos Faculty of Fine Arts in the Polytechnic University of Valencia (ES) 1991. He has done workshops at the Pilar i Joan Miro Foundation and Museum Es Baluard in Palma de Mallorca (ES); and the Coahuila University of Art School (MX). Solo exhibitions: Antonia Puyó Gallery, Zaragoza and Casal Solleric (Palma de Mallorca, ES), Hilvaria Studios (NL); Field Institute, Insel Hombroich Foundation (DE). Some International events. 2nd and 3rd BIAB Beijing International Art Bienale (CN); 2nd Mediterranean Biennal, Dubrovnik (HR); Busan International Print Art Festival (KR); SEA International Sculpture Symposium Alicante (ES).

Eduardo Rojo, Born physically in Santiago, Chile in 1982. From a family of immigrants from different latitudes, Raised in the chaotic city center of a south american capital made Eduardo experience multiculturalism from a very young age. Studied in Santiago between 2002 and 2007, at Universidad de las Americas the career of computer’s engineer and after at Departamento Universitario Obrero Campesino (DUOC) the career of Business Administration. When he finished his second studies he moved to the remote area of San Pedro de Atacama where he got inspired by the wild nature and the Inca’s path. From that moment an on, his appetite for traveling start to grow, passing by several inspiring countries in the whole South-american and European continents, discovering how “the Latin American people found themselves at the surrealism” but also been living and working in Europe and seeing how “the European protest with the surrealism”. Born as a painter at Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 2009, Eduardo Rojo’s expressive language derives from his life experience, so far. His concepts display several very different experiential facets, while all encapsulating a common idea, object creation.

No title. Eduardo Rojo, 2020 / Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021. Acrylic on paper.

No title. Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021 / José Estevão, 2021. Acrylic on cardboard.

No title. Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021 / Freddy F Knistoff, 2021. Acrylic on cardboard.

No title. Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021 / José Estevão, 2021. Acrylic on cardboard.

No title. Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021 / Freddy F Knistoff, 2021. Acrylic on cardboard.

No title. Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021 / José Estevão, 2021. Acrylic on cardboard.

No title. Freddy F Knistoff, 2021 / Jose Estevão, 2021. Acrylic on paper.

No title. James Burns 2021 / Freddy Flores Knistoff, 2021. Acrylic on found paper.

No title. James Burns 2021 / Jose Estevão, 2021. Acrylic on found paper.

No title. Marcos Vidal, 2021 / Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021. Acrylic on silkscreen print.

No title. Patricio Álvarez Aragón, 2021 / Jorge H. Fuentealba, 2021. Acrylic on canvas.

Varna Бункер / Bunker (Gallery detail). Photo credits Neno Belchev, 2021

CAPA, from Collective/Collaborative Automatic Painting Amsterdam is a collective/movement of artists founded in Amsterdam in 1991 by Freddy Flores Knistoff in collaboration with other artists. CAPA is a painting movement focused in the research and collaboration of physical automatism. CAPA is linked to the currents of the late Surealism, Experimental Art and Abstract Expresionism.

https://issuu.com/patricioaar-

http://www.capacollectiveautomaticpaintingamsterdambureau.com/ https://issuu.com/capaeditions

The Бункер /Bunker Gallery is a non-profit and experimental gallery that works in a low-budget format to be accessible to emergent artists and curators who are looking to develop a project. The exhibition’s space is a real/abandoned Bunker from the II World War, located in a forest next to Varna city center. The visits are made in guided tours where a meeting point is established. There is no electricity in the Bunker so it is required that all the guests bring their own cellphones to discover the paintings while are exploring the expositions. Бункер /Bunker Gallery is an audience experience focused project. https://www.instagram.com/bunkerbunkerfranga/

62 on publishing house ONGAL, Varna Bulgaria Printed