EMPTY WORDS, FULL OF MEANING

Spain's Ignasi Aballí is the first artist featured in the MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight.

Palabras Vacías (Empty Words), 2020 detail.

Conceptual artist Ignasi Aballí inaugurates MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight series.

BY NANCY COHEN ISRAEL PHOTOGRAPHY BY GUY ROGERS III

Palabras Vacías (Empty Words), 2020 installation at the Meadows Museum.

In the art world, words are used to describe objects, interpret meaning, and foster conversation. But what if words are the object? And what if they express something that is not tangible? Such is the case with Ignasi Aballí’s Palabras Vacías (Empty Words), currently on view at the Meadows Museum.

In 2019, the museum entered into a six-year partnership with Fundacíon ARCO, one of Spain’s premier contemporary art organizations, with the intended goal of introducing the work of a contemporary Spanish artist with limited recognition to American audiences. A panel of jurors, representing both organizations, selects each artist on a biennial basis. Aballí’s exhibition inaugurates the partnership.

Palabras Vacías is a conceptual installation comprised of 27 galvanized iron plates, each of which is 12 x 40 inches. Cut out of each plate is one word that defies visual representation. “This work is especially interesting because it negates the idea of image. There is no image for something nonexistent,” Aballí says.

A common observation is that the words themselves are in English. “When you use language as part of the work, you have to decide what words to use,” says Aballí. His choices included Catalan, spoken in his native Barcelona, where he still resides; Castilian, the official language of Spain; or English, currently the lingua franca of much of the world. “There is another reason, and it is important,” Aballí offers, explaining, “In Spanish, we have masculine and feminine forms. I chose English because there is no gender. There is neutrality in gender consideration.” The word secret, for example, can take a gendered form in Spanish. In English, Aballí suggests, “It works in a more abstract way.”

The genesis of this work is a 2019 exhibition in Barcelona. “I made an installation and used metal plates as a stencil. Then I spray painted the words onto the wall. But I thought when I did the installation that the plates themselves can be interesting. The word immaterializes because you can see through it, and you can see the wall behind it,” he says, making it an empty word. The following year, he presented the current installation at Elba Benítez Gallery in Madrid.

The visual effect of the single line of plates bisecting the wall, combined with thoughtful placement of each word and proper lighting to maximize the shadows left by the negative space, make this work multidimensional. Aballí came to Dallas specifically to oversee its installation, which Amanda W. Dotseth, director ad interim and curator of the Meadows Museum states, “is part of the piece.” To accommodate all 27 plates, a temporary wall has been installed within one of the museum’s contemporary galleries. “The architecture will force a more intimate space,” says Dotseth.

Following his opening in Dallas, Aballí was bound for Venice. For the second time, his work will represent Spain at this year’s Venice Biennale. “We selected him for this before the selection for the Biennale was made,” notes Dotseth, with pride. It is an auspicious start to this partnership and a win for contemporary art in Dallas. P