Glenda León (Cuba, 1976) after her participation at The Havana Biennial with Natural Mechanic, embarks a dialectical reflection on the fragility and strength of nature in a symbolic gesture of empowerment, the artist turns the butterfly wing dust in an imaginary galaxy revealing his allegorical power and revealing the invisible in our eyes.

Glenda León creates artworks in different languages like videos, photography, installations or public interventions in which she examined the relationship between artificial and natural elements where ordinary objects transform and reveal their metaphorical power. This capacity of creating new meanings through the contextualization, manipulations, and association of the objects work as a sounding board to question big questions. 

In Celestial Mechanics, the artist fosters a holistic vision of the universe: all beings were conceived by the same energy that the Cosmos was created. Thereby, the artist uses an infimum element as it is the butterfly wing dust to promote a metamorphic journey that raises ontological and epistemological issues. Glenda León amplifies the qualities of a fragile material in an action, almost scientific, of discovery and deconstruction of a butterfly from stages of approaches and scales. 

The use of butterfly wing dust on the work of Glenda León enrolls within that line of her work in which disputes the representation of reality through traditional means and assumes the use of unconventional materials as her own hair, flowers, feathers, cassette tape, gum or sand. The butterfly is a symbol of the empowerment of what we badly call ‘weak’; an increased fragility – in this case -, for the negative impact of the exploitation of natural resources. Perhaps, the importance is not valued in all its magnitude of the existence of the butterfly in vital elements as the contribution to the pollination of flowers, the inclusion in the food chain as nourishment for birds or insectivorous mammals an even as benchmark for ecosystem health scholars.

Glenda León presents her vision of life as a path of spiritual growth and the role that art may have in this process. The immensity represented by the wings of this little being can become a space to look, to find or to remember the infinite beauty that surrounds us and that sometimes it remains hidden from our eyes.

BOOTH J02 | 31.03 – 02.04.2023

We are pleased to announce that Galeria SENDA will participate in the Düsseldorf Art Fair for the first time this year!

Jordi Bernadó
Iran Do Espirito Santo
Anthony Goicolea
Peter Halley
Karin Kneffel
Tulio Pinto
Jaume Plensa
Sandra Vasquez de la Horra

As a leading contemporary art gallery based in Barcelona, Galeria SENDA has been showcasing the work of emerging and established artists for over 30 years. Our participation in Art Düsseldorf is a testament to our commitment to bring the best of contemporary art to our audience.

We will be presenting a handpicked selection of works by some of our most talented artists at our booth J02 at Art Düsseldorf. We invite you to join us at the fair, where you can see pieces by these artists up close and more.

 

Download the press release here

If you’d like to receive more information about our participation in the fair please contact info@galeriasenda.com

Cover image: Jordi Bernadó “Lac Télé (CON 1.1)cc” 2022,  180 x 240 cm

• Link to booth in virtual reality: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=1LFw1nyBZTG

Galeria SENDA is present in the general program of ARCO Madrid 2023 at stand 9B21 with a range of national and international artists.

In our 30th participation in the ARCO fair in Madrid, we present a selection of the latest creations by a series of artists with whom we have worked in recent years, both national and international, who are the pillars of our identity and history. as a gallery, as well as new proposals, younger and emerging.

 

Jordi BERNADÓ
Elena DEL RIVERO
Anthony GOICOLEA
Peter HALLEY
Yago HORTAL
Glenda LEÓN
Jaume PLENSA
Gino RUBERT
Sandra  VÁSQUEZ DE LA HORRA
Evru ZUSH

 

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This year we celebrate with great enthusiasm our twentieth participation in the fair ART BRUSSELS, from April 28th to May 1st, 2022, with the following selected artists: Stephan BALKENHOL Peter HALLEY Yago HORTAL Irán DO ESPIRITO SANTO Glenda LEÓN Túlio PINTO Jaume PLENSA Sandra VÁSQUEZ DE LA HORRA   You can find us at stand A50, Tour & Taxis in Brussels.

Roger Ballen, “Roger The Rat” for LOOP Fair Barcelona

15- 17 November 2022

📍Room 304, Almanac Barcelona

We’re happy to announce Roger Ballen as this year’s artist for Loop Fair with his work: “Roger the Rat”, which will be exhibited at #LOOP22 (15-17 Nov) where a selection of contemporary artists’ films and videos will be presented by international galleries in a unique viewing experience in Barcelona.

Roger Ballen created a persona, Roger the Rat. Here, the artist creates and documents an archetypal persona who is a part-human, part-rat creature who lives an isolated life outside of mainstream society. In this film, we follow Roger the Rat, as he moves out of his restrictive hovel to an abandoned graveyard of discarded mannequins taking them to his house to dress and communicate with them.

Initially Roger the Rat was ecstatic with his newfound companions as he could dress them, talk to them and share his feelings. As time passes, he comes increasingly frustrated by their lack of response which leads to his outbursts of violent and irrational behavior. Roger the Rat, gives expression to the corroding effects of loneliness, seclusion, and uncomfortable suffocation in confined spaces afflicted on the human psyche as a consequence of the isolation.

 

ARTIST BIO

Roger Ballen was born in New York in 1950, son of a photograph editor at Magnum.

Ballen has worked as a geologist and mine consultant before launching his own photographic career, documenting small towns in rural Africa and their isolated inhabitants, spending more than 40 years living there.

It was in the 90s when his style changed, trying the black and white technique and a more ‘documentary fiction’ approach to his work. Ballen has always been intrigued by the idea of a hybrid between photography and drawing, as well as the expansion of his visual language, making him experiment with video works where the human conditions are his main subject matter.

He is considered one of the most influential artists of the 21st century, having published over 25 books internationally and being part of multiple solo and group exhibitions since 1981.

The work is signed by the AES+F collective, artists who have represented Russia on various occasions and events such as the Venice Biennale and Sao Paulo, and who at this time have openly distanced themselves from the politics of their country. A choice intended to support artistic production regardless of the country of origin.

Inverso Mundus is a critique of the despotic situation we live in today, in the midst of the climate, social and economic crisis, exploitation and gender inequality. The video work, about 40 minutes long, is presented with an ad hoc setting designed by the designer Andrea Isola with the input of the participants in the Exhibition Design workshop organized by Recontemporary in the days immediately prior to the opening.

To enrich the exhibition, the suggestive Mon Viewing Room by collector Michele Forneris, in collaboration with Recontemporary, hosts another work by the artists, Psychosis, which can be visited by appointment by sending an email to spazioomon@gmail.com: a little hidden gem in the city for the most curious.

The work “Inverso Mundus” has as its initial point of reference the carnivalesque engravings of the 16th century in the “upside down world” genre, an early form of populist social criticism that emerged with the arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press. The title of the project mixes old Italian and Latin, from a centuries-old stratification of meanings, combining “Inverso”, the Italian “reverso” and old Italian “poetry”, with the Latin “Mundus”, which means “world”. “.

This work reinterprets contemporaneity through the tradition of printmaking, depicting a contemporary world consumed by a tragicomic apocalypse where social conventions are turned upside down to highlight underlying premises we take for granted:

Metrosexual garbage men bathe the streets with sewage and garbage. An international board of directors is usurped by its impoverished doppelgangers. The poor give alms to the rich. Chimeras come down from the sky to be petted like pets. A pig guts a butcher. Women dressed in cocktail dresses sensually torture men in cages and devices inspired by IKEA furniture in an ironic reversal of the Inquisition. Tweens and octogenarians fight a kickboxing match. Riot police embrace protesters in an orgy on a huge luxurious bed. Men and women carry donkeys on their backs and virus-like radiolaria in Haeckel’s illustrations, peering out and perching on unsuspecting people who are busy taking selfies.

The video’s background music is an amalgamation of Léon Boëllmann’s 1895 Gothique, an original piece by contemporary composer and media artist Dmitry Morozov (also known as VTOL), along with excerpts from Ravel, Liszt, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, with a special emphasis on “Casta Diva” by Norma by Vincenzo Bellini.

 

Recontemporary message:

“The works are a reference to the current situation of sudden changes and extreme instability, a moment in which more than ever it is necessary to be carried away by the communicative power of art and the power it has to unite and make people reflect, synthesizing universal messages.”

The work is signed by the AES+F collective, artists who have represented Russia on various occasions and events such as the Venice Biennale and Sao Paulo, and who at this time have openly distanced themselves from the politics of their country. A choice intended to support artistic production regardless of the country of origin.

Inverso Mundus is a critique of the despotic situation we live in today, in the midst of the climate, social and economic crisis, exploitation and gender inequality. The video work, about 40 minutes long, is presented with an ad hoc setting designed by the designer Andrea Isola with the input of the participants in the Exhibition Design workshop organized by Recontemporary in the days immediately prior to the opening.

To enrich the exhibition, the suggestive Mon Viewing Room by collector Michele Forneris, in collaboration with Recontemporary, hosts another work by the artists, Psychosis, which can be visited by appointment by sending an email to spazioomon@gmail.com: a little hidden gem in the city for the most curious.

The work “Inverso Mundus” has as its initial point of reference the carnivalesque engravings of the 16th century in the “upside down world” genre, an early form of populist social criticism that emerged with the arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press. The title of the project mixes old Italian and Latin, from a centuries-old stratification of meanings, combining “Inverso”, the Italian “reverso” and old Italian “poetry”, with the Latin “Mundus”, which means “world”. “.

This work reinterprets contemporaneity through the tradition of printmaking, depicting a contemporary world consumed by a tragicomic apocalypse where social conventions are turned upside down to highlight underlying premises we take for granted:

Metrosexual garbage men bathe the streets with sewage and garbage. An international board of directors is usurped by its impoverished doppelgangers. The poor give alms to the rich. Chimeras come down from the sky to be petted like pets. A pig guts a butcher. Women dressed in cocktail dresses sensually torture men in cages and devices inspired by IKEA furniture in an ironic reversal of the Inquisition. Tweens and octogenarians fight a kickboxing match. Riot police embrace protesters in an orgy on a huge luxurious bed. Men and women carry donkeys on their backs and virus-like radiolaria in Haeckel’s illustrations, peering out and perching on unsuspecting people who are busy taking selfies.

The video’s background music is an amalgamation of Léon Boëllmann’s 1895 Gothique, an original piece by contemporary composer and media artist Dmitry Morozov (also known as VTOL), along with excerpts from Ravel, Liszt, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, with a special emphasis on “Casta Diva” by Norma by Vincenzo Bellini.

La obra está firmada por el colectivo AES+F, artistas que han representado a Rusia en diversas ocasiones y eventos como la Bienal de Venecia y Sao Paulo, y que en este momento se han distanciado abiertamente de la política de su país. Una elección destinada a apoyar la producción artística independientemente del país de origen.

Inverso Mundus es una crítica a la situación despótica que vivimos hoy, en medio de la crisis climática, social y económica, la explotación y la desigualdad de género. La obra de vídeo, de unos 40 minutos de duración, se presenta con una ambientación ad hoc diseñada por la diseñadora Andrea Isola con la aportación de los participantes en el taller de Diseño de Exhibiciones organizado por Recontemporary en los días inmediatamente anteriores a la inauguración.

La obra “Inverso Mundus” tiene como punto de referencia inicial los grabados carnavalescos del siglo XVI en el género del “mundo al revés”, una forma temprana de crítica social populista surgida con la llegada de la imprenta de Gutenberg. El título del proyecto mezcla el italiano antiguo y el latín, a partir de una estratificación de significados centenaria, combinando “Inverso”, el “reverso” italiano y la “poesía” italiana antigua, con el latín “Mundus”, que significa “mundo”.

Esta obra reinterpreta la contemporaneidad a través de la tradición del grabado, representando un mundo contemporáneo consumido por un apocalipsis tragicómico donde las convenciones sociales se trastornan para resaltar las premisas subyacentes que damos por sentadas:

Los basureros metrosexuales bañan las calles con aguas negras y basura. Una junta directiva internacional es usurpada por sus dobles empobrecidos. Los pobres dan limosna a los ricos. Las quimeras bajan del cielo para ser acariciadas como mascotas. Un cerdo destripa a un carnicero. Mujeres vestidas con vestidos de cóctel torturan sensualmente a los hombres en jaulas y dispositivos inspirados en los muebles de IKEA en una irónica inversión de la Inquisición. Preadolescentes y octogenarios pelean un combate de kickboxing. La policía antidisturbios abraza a los manifestantes en una orgía sobre una enorme cama de lujo. Hombres y mujeres llevan burros a la espalda y radiolarios similares a los virus de las ilustraciones de Haeckel, se asoman y se posan sobre personas desprevenidas que están ocupadas tomándose selfies.

La música de fondo del video es una amalgama del Gothique de 1895 de Léon Boëllmann, una pieza original del compositor y artista de medios contemporáneo Dmitry Morozov (también conocido como VTOL), junto con extractos de Ravel, Liszt, Mozart y Tchaikovsky, con un énfasis especial en “Casta Diva” de Norma de Vincenzo Bellini.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Russian collective AES+F exhibits once again through galeria SENDA: “Mare Mediterraneum“, after passing through the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy in 2018 –an official event at the same time as the Manifesta art fair– and its follow-up exhibition at Trafalgar, 32, in 2019. This time, we present a single show for this edition of The Armory Show in New York, from September 9 to 11, 2022 at the Javits Center.

 

Press release (excerpt):

The Mediterranean Sea is the reserve of civilization: its heart has pumped people, cultures and religions from one coast to another like blood. The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians expanded to the north, the Romans and the Crusades to the south, the Genoese to the east, the Byzantine empire to the west, the Islamic caliphate to the east, west, north, and south. Sicily is right in the middle and the storm waves of all civilizations have splashed on its shores. This is still happening today.

The Mediterranean Sea is once again the epicenter of the ideological contradiction. The war has pushed refugees and migrants who, to save themselves, have had to swim and survive to face Europe with a difficult choice. (In ancient mythology, Europe was also forced to cross this sea.) His election has led to political and ideological clashes, the polarization of public opinion and the rise of xenophobia and ethnic violence.

This tragic situation has become a political conflict, as well as an issue of negotiation and ideological speculation. In this way, it has been transmitted by the media as a concept defined today as “post-truth”. The ethical situation that has developed is paradoxical.

Working with porcelain figures in this theme could be considered an extreme manifestation of this paradox, from a distance an artistic image can be more radical than reality itself because it can push conceptual boundaries.

Porcelain has always been a symbol of satisfaction and bourgeois comfort. The recent waves of migration have confronted Europe with a dilemma: whether to accept the refugees, allowing them to enter at the expense of the material and psychological comfort of their hosts; or to reject them in an immoral, inhuman and cynical act that would damage the cooperative ethical basis of Europe itself.

Comfort is fallible and fragile, like the china associated with it. Kept safe for generations in high places, porcelain figurines are carefully guarded but their fragility encapsulates the threat of instant loss. They break easily.

The chosen form and material of these works contrast with the drama of what is unfolding in the Mediterranean today. A reflected ray of light illuminates better than a direct one. We think this bears truth about this work.

 

Edited by David Elliott

 

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His work is based on the tensions created between the traditional and the contemporary, from technology to narrative and aesthetics. This is also true for their recent production of Turandot. The collective brings together the classic Turandot, adapted to today’s socio-political dynamics, with the Euro-Oriental fusion aesthetic for which AES+F is so well known. The result is a magnificent wave of surreal visual and aural stimuli.

This work raises existential questions about China from a Western perspective, women’s revenge and authoritarianism, and a mixture of past and future, each of these themes intertwined.