"The natural evolution of sculpture is oriented towards the immaterial." Under this premise, the Venezuelan artist Carlos Medina presents Essential, an innovative proposal in the spaces of Ascaso Gallery, located in Wynwood, Miami's art district.
Next Friday February 12 from 6:30 pm the American public will be able to enjoy an individual show displaying the recent work of this consecrated sculptor of abstract-geometric orientation which will certainly impact the whole attendance. A total of twenty-two pieces, including assemblies, surfaces and spatial interventions will occupy the walls of Miami's multifaceted exposition space for two months, under the curator ship of architect Mauricio Alfonzo.
Carol Damian, an outstanding art researcher and professor at Florida International University, states in the catalog issued on the occasion that "There has long been the Minimalist conviction that purist, abstract painting "wanted" to become sculpture and move off the walls, and Medina has followed this trajectory throughout a career...that constantly explores the formal aspects of art production, never afraid to make changes and move beyond the expected. Among his latest experiments, there are "ensembles" that use layers of canvas, plastic and aluminum in remarkable ways, defying a sense of solidity as they literally "curl" off their backgrounds, and playing with the stability thought to be intrinsic in two-dimensional works. He is constantly using a variety of materials and expressive methods to carry his experiments with plane and surface to create new spatial constructs and interactions."
In this previously unreleased selection entitled Essential, presented by Ascaso Gallery, the artist shows the painstaking evolution of his plastic work through impeccable formats using the minimum amount of materials, a fundamental trait in Carlos Medina's aesthetic endeavor. Hence, we will be able to appreciate totally unframed pieces playing with light and space on black or white surfaces, with fine nylon or metallic threads as the only participants in the optical game staged in each one of his abstract proposals.
Doctor Bélgica Rodríguez, a prominent specialist in Latin American art and connoisseur of the work of this remarkable artist, points out that "Medina's investigative curiosity and reflexive need have led him to develop unconventional techniques and to master the use of equally unconventional materials, allowing him to carry out a sculptural work which on the one hand follows formalist codes, while on the other places itself simultaneously between volumetric, planimetric and spatial criteria. In consequence, his atelier can alternatively become a blacksmith's workshop, a carpentry, a laser laboratory and a sort of refinery to work with PVC sheets, expansible polyurethane, aluminum, stainless steel, brass, nylon lattices or threads, liquid silicone, paper, finely-gauged rods of different materials and thicknesses and/or siliceous sands which, according to the leading "idea," can be found in pieces developed with laser techniques, router, water jet cutting machine, iron rolling, CNC lathe, or oxide-derived patinas. More traditional methods, such as welding and carving, drive him toward iron, marble, granite or steel sculptures..." which he has exhaustingly worked for many years after his first individual exposition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas in 1975, entitled "Spatial geometric abstractions."
Carlos Medina has never been drawn away from his aesthetics, the fundamental axis of his work which compels him to work, study, expose and have a presence in museums and collections in different cities of the world, where he engages in relationships, experiments and the development of a particular expressive language deprived of tonalities and colors. In his minimalistic quest he paradoxically incorporates infinite possibilities and materials to play with space, defying physics through volume, an element which he has varied in scale and weight along time, as evidenced by his huge urban works. There is nothing casual about the title of his most recent individual show carried out at the headquarters of Ascaso Gallery in Caracas, From the material to the essential, a summary of over thirty years of constant activity, after which he has mastered the elaboration and placement of light structures strategically located to "float and move in space."
Now in Essential, these spatial interventions recently developed by Medina are given special emphasis by Alfonzo's curatorial effort throughout the Ascaso Gallery salons in Wynwood. Professor Rodríguez coincides in her comments on the artist's intention: "Medina creates installations whose movement is defined by natural air streams or frequently by the spectators' own fleeting displacements. Drawing in the air with chords, or using them as suspension or connection tools, he enters in contradiction with the conventional need of a tangible and objective background to explore and ultimately fix artistic ideas."
The audience of the Essential show will be able to enjoy, appreciate and participate in this magical visual experience generated by the work of Venezuelan artist Carlos Medina, whose formats are perfectly suited to the most intimate as well as the largest spaces of public and private institutions.
Entrada actualizada el el 29 nov de 2019
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