My body is my painting, 1995 (detail) Oil on canvas GCC
The Contemporary Art Center of Málaga presents The life is like a wind of the artist from cádiz by José María Baez the 30th of November. The exhibition, curated by Fernando Francés, brings together nearly 150 pieces of the artist, grouped in 45 works. Life is like a wind it works as a great installation where the word dominates the central room of the museum. Baez looking for a source of a complete set of aesthetic, philosophical, and pragmatic: the assembly, the conversion of the exhibition space in a large facility to transform walls in the living part of your experience and that you will share with the public. In the sample, we observe an active presence of what is literary and narrative through the use of quotations poetics that incorporates her paintings using roman characters-renaissance. Baez performed a conceptual reflection and pictorial drawing on literary sources, librettos, musical, and in the apropiacionismo of works and artists admired.
“Always, I insisted that the appointments would have a capacity of evocation, without being descriptive. They were not overly explicit or conventional, that would have the ability to metaphorically and referenciaran, with frequency, of the specific nature of the painting,” explains the artist José Maria Baez. “In the selection of the texts was attempting to circumvent the descriptive and explicit, and to enhance that to have capacity a metaphorical and a voltage of mystery”.
For Fernando Francés, director of CAC Málaga, “Baez has managed to realize an installation about the importance of the written word. The color, the different fonts and formats, have a crucial role alongside the exhibition. The words have appropriated the space in a game of meanings, languages, verses that will be guided by the eye of the beholder”.
José María Báez
Linked to movements of poetry in his youth, during a long period of time, his work maintained an active presence in the literary and narrative through the use of quotations poetics that incorporated his paintings using roman characters-renaissance. This character plot of his works demanded a close connection to the installation. Started with the figurative, and ended up in an approach that is more conceptual, where the color is the essential element, the key to the release of their works. For the artist, not only the contemporary art needs a review, but also the classic, and that is, “the art is always a document of our time”. Baez looking for a source of a complete set of aesthetic, philosophical, and pragmatic: the assembly, the conversion of the exhibition space in a large installation to transform your walls into a living part of his experience and that shared by the public.
The work of José María Baez (Jerez de la Frontera,1949 and resident in Córdoba since the 60’s) falls within the current characteristic of the decade of the 80’s related to painting figurative expressionist, joined by other young andalucian artists.
it Is from the mid 80’s when they enter their signs of classic design and that are a constant in his work until 2009. It is then when it becomes frequent the use of formats more reduced in height, but more elongated: the line of writing imposes form and gives a meaning not explicit but loaded with meaning. The importance of these jobs in the work of Baez is related to her career earlier, because she started her career as a poet. The writing and the line are associated, therefore, with one of the most important periods of his career.
It’s to late 80’s and early 90’s when you can see an absence of color and a tone more well off in their dating, related with death, and aids, a disease that took its toll on some of his friends and that also meant issues related to exclusion and social discrimination.
The shows exhibited at the CAC Málaga, life is like a wind, curated by Fernando Francés, brings together 135 the artist’s pieces, grouped in 45 works. This show is a compendium, more than a retrospective, because that is a segment of your production. The mount is the key to understanding the exhibition, the four walls of the space play with the continuity of the sentences, to give a continual sense. There are No large spaces between the works and the corners, to achieve a continuity proven.
it All started with the piece with the text “LIFE IS LIKE A WIND” Without a title. Abu Ghraib, (2008), funeral, the lapidary phrase, does not hide a great truth, cries out to the voices. This diptych displays an image of the torture that held the u.s. army at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. A man is badly wounded, possibly dead, lying on the ground, you only see the head, all the black-and-white, like a photograph, but where you can see the red of his wound in the temple. “LIFE IS LIKE A WIND,” character classic, as we are reminded by the quote in Latin “tempus fugit”, time flees, time flees, time flies. In 2010, precisely, shortly after performing this work, Baez stopped to use texts in their works.
Continuing this work, as an elegy, is collage, acrylic and paper faune bouge, tandis that the flore is déplie à l’oeil, (1991) with the text MUETTES INSTANCES SUPPLICATIONS CALME FORT TRIOMPHES. Although previously appeared texts in his paintings, it was in 1987 when he began to use the type of letters that Giovanni Francesco Cresci gave a version in the SIXTEENTH century on the imperial roman. Specifically, in his exhibition “clean and Dirty” was where you introduced the words in his works for the first time, because it was the title of the work is the same. Cresi is a letter intended for the harmony of the eyes and the lack of skill of the hand, because it assumes a natural human imperfection, because, as explained Baez “the path of the hand when performing a letter is of a greater thickness when it is started, and the stroke is from the bottom up, however, when it ends the same arm has more force, and the stroke is made from the top down, highlighting the hand with greater strength.” This feature that this type of letter preserved, in which it is very important to the eye that sees it, it will never have the letters the same spatial separation, but on the whole, they have a perfect harmony.
with regards to the choice of the language or phrases and quotes that the artist paints in his works, they are the same source of the quote who dictates the chosen language. Thus, accompanying the exhibition at the CAC Málaga, quotes and words in German, English, Italian, French, and Spanish. Phrases that are of the same painter, are the polyptych titled Noises, moans, grunts, sighs, (1995), in which appears the words in English NOISES / GRUNTS / GROANS / SIGHS. And the work Ifn title. (2006), with the text EVERYTHING IS REPRESENTATION, of an oval shape, and black background with floral details. This work is a companion to untitled. (2006), THE TARGET PROTECTS those WHO ARE AFRAID, the text of which belongs to José Enrique Coca.
Other works that include reflections, are The air of the voice (1993), with the same text as your title, “Behind any man that speaks is the world that leads him to that talk about” (reflection of Emilio Lledó, where is the origin of this work). The sensation and memory (1993), came from the quote from Aristotle: “the experience is sensation and memory”. No title. Niestrath (1995), with the verse SCHWARZ WEISS SCHNELL SICHER of the artist Eva Niestrath. In No title. Still life (1995) you can read the text belonging to Francisco Bejarano in sea BREEZE IN A GLASS OF AMBER, this text was also used for the poster of the Horse Fair of Jerez 1996, because it seemed to him a dazzling metaphor for the city. The poster, divided into three fields of flat colors and the added single quote (next to the references of the own celebration and their dates, all this with an abundance of colors), aroused a strong controversy and a rejection of citizen fairly widespread, the lack of the recurring and conventional iconographic elements. Even today, after so many years have passed, many are reminded of their uniqueness. Untitled (1995), with the text translated by Henri Michaux, don’T TRY to learn NEW WAYS.
in Addition, accompanying The life is like a wind-up appointments: Yves Bonnefoy, untitled (1996-1997), TACHES DE COULEUR PLAISIRS BREFS CRAINTES; César González Ruano, untitled (1997), THE LIPS OF THE SEA, SEALING FOAMS; Juan Eduardo Cirlot, untitled (1997), TRANSPARENT DILATES THE (left side) / ICE THAT is SUDDENLY THE (right hand side), Vicente Huidobro, untitled (1997), QUELQUEFOIS LA NUIT DANS LES MAINS IS DEFAIT; Octavio Paz, Lead (1998), THE DAY OPEN YOUR HAND / THREE CLOUDS, / AND THESE FEW WORDS; Juan A. Muñoz-Rojas, untitled (1999-2000), NOTHING IS SAVED AND THE LOVE LESS THAN NOTHING; Dylan Thomas, untitled (1999-2000), BY SIPPING AT THE VINE OF DAYS; Avigdor Arikha, Without title. Arikha (2000), THE IMAGE RECALLS THE PAINTING REVEALS; Clara Janés, untitled (2000-2001), MUSIC AND SMOKE WHEN it COMES to THE REST OF THE EYES.
No title, Abu Ghraib, 2008 Gesso, oil and varnish on wood
on the other hand, are the pieces called Reredos: an Altarpiece I (1999) THE CONSOLATION IS the NEED OF the MAN of José A. Muñoz Rojas; Altarpiece III (1999) THE SADNESS will LAST FOREVER of Vincent van Gogh; Altarpiece VIII (1999) DIE HERZEN DER WALTENDEN SCHATTEN of Paul Celan and Altarpiece XI (1999), A CLEAR SHEARING OF MAY VOICE in THE FIELD of Ricardo Molina. These four pieces belong to a set of thirteen works conceived for its exhibition in the former convent of Santa Clara in Cordoba. The idea of Baez was to put them together in the manner of a large factory retablística, and hence their similar size, the repetition of the geometric composition of the fund and a certain elegiac tone of the quotes.
as of the year 2000, Báez began to use other fonts. In simultaneity with those of Cresci, the new types, from popular and customary use in publications and announcements during the forties and fifties, came to level the imprint culturalist of the first. So, are the texts belonging to Derek Walcott, untitled (2000-2001), LANDSCAPES OPEN ON A WATERDROP; Carlos Edmundo de Ory, untitled (2002), I CLIMB TO MY EYES; César González Ruano, untitled (2002), HEART NEW NUMBER; Jorge Luis Borges, Natura morta (2002), ECHOES UNDERTOW SAND LICHEN DREAMS / NATURA MORTA; Wolf Vostell, untitled. Vostell (2003), SONO LE COSE CHE NON CONOSCETE CHE CAMBIERANNO LA before setting VITA; Pspho Phale, untitled (2003), I have given up MY DREAMS, and Pierre Reverdy, untitled (2003), LE JOUR ENSEMBLE ” SORTIR LENTEMENT D’un ETUI.
on the other hand, the barcelona-based Alejandro Sales Gallery held in the year 2000 its fifteen-year anniversary by inviting various galleries to show the work of their artists in their space. Rafael Ortiz gallery in seville was one of them and charged Baez for something specific for the occasion. The artist recalled that Joan Miró, after his return to Spain at the end of the Civil War, focused on a series of graphic works titled Suite Barcelona. At that time the artist was reading with enthusiasm to Patrick Modiano, and he was fascinated by the game of mysterious evocations produced by the names of the protagonists of their stories, so letting ourselves be overpowered by these suggestions, and with the appropriation ironic title mironian, devised a triptych Suite Barcelona (2000) with the names of six players linked to the Football Club Barcelona. FRANK DE BOER / RIVALDO, WINSTON BOGARDE / FIGO and JARI LITMANEN / PEP GUARDIOLA. But these works are never exhibited in this sample, because the gallery owner did not share the tastes of football team chosen by Baez.
Also accompany the exhibition verses, of more than two meters long, Miguel Sánchez-Ostíz, untitled (1996), THE GRAY OF THE JUNIPERS, the ROUGHNESS OF THE THYME and Pablo García Baena: untitled (1996), OF YOUR HAIR WHICH SMOTHERED THE VOICE IN MY THROAT; untitled (1996), A NECKLACE OF EYES SLEEPLESS, and untitled (1996) ETERNALLY HURTS FAST it FLIES AND KILLS them. The text of this last, comes from the box, The dream of the knight (ca. 1645-1660) traditionally attributed to the painter vallisoletano Antonio de Pereda. The inscription of the amulet, extended, holds the angel, could not be more laconic, and profound. In the middle of it there’s a bow tensed with an arrow with a sun behind it and the label latino “AETERNA PUNGIT / CITO VOLAT / ET OCCIDIT” which, translated, means “Eternally smite, quickly it flies and it kills”. In 1995, he was awarded the Prize for Painting Navarre. One of the awards referred to, was an exhibition in the Museum of Navarre in Pamplona. Individual exposures, during all the time that you used texts, forced him to prepare works for specific and articulated about an idea or argumentario concrete. These four pieces were part of the exhibition project that was prepared for Navarre. The space dedicated to the temporary exhibitions of the museum was a rectangle of large proportions, so that the format, layout and scale of the works came determined by the floor plan, but had as references beyond the versions in red and blue by artist Reiner Ruthenbeck. Another work of Baena, but not in the same format as the previous, is untitled (2002), HERE WAS YOUR MOUTH.
The work with more extension is without a doubt: My body is my painting (1995) made up 40 small canvases with the following text: MY DESIRE / MY TAUNT / MY CAUTION / MY CENSORSHIP / MY PURSE / MY CERTAINTY / MY CYNICISM / MY GRIEF / MY DESPAIR / MY DISDAIN / MY DESIRE / MY CONCERN / MY ECHO / MY AGE / MY WOUND / MY GALL / MY MARK / MY PULSE / MY GAME / MY LIBIDO / MY FEAR / MY NAUSEA / MY NAME / MY PASSION / MY MERCY / MY DICK / MY SHAME / MY QUIET / MY REASON / MY BITTERNESS / MY BRIBE / MY SOPHISTRY / MY SHADOW / MY PEACE / MY SHROUD / MY SADNESS / MY TREMOR / MY SHYNESS / AWKWARDNESS / MY TRAP. It is true that the provision in mounting of this work may be variable, in terms of their vertical position (as explained for the first time) or horizontal, as it does in the CAC Málaga, has always placed in alphabetical order. In a conversation with the artist Bill Beckley in 1997, Louise Bourgeois said, “For me, sculpture is the body. My body is my sculpture”. This polyptych, which changes the “sculpture” “painting” and was intended for display at the XV Salon de los 16, 1995. It is an attempt to build the secret identity of the artist and the large number of records that converge in the paint.
it is Worth noting the work untitled (1993-2000), with the text VITALI SCHERBO as it is done in acrylic, oil, collage and silver leaf on paper scrim. The predilection of Baez by characters concrete was built up a considerable constellation of proper names, as those of Vitali Scherbo, a gymnast belarussian who was olympic champion in Barcelona’92. There were many other and, between them, the architects Gunnar Asplund and J. J. P. Oud, graphic designers Paul Rand and Saul Bass, the pole-vaulter Ukrainian Sergei Bubka, the composer Lili Boulanger and even Jacques Fesch, killer convert French.
Also, are the sources for the artist, the same titles of some works, by performing a apropicionalismo, as is the case with Twombly (1993), the text of which WILDER SHORES OF LOVE comes from the title of a painting, 1985 Cy Twombly, or with No title. Kippenberger (2000-2001) in which we can read DIE WAHRHEIT LIEGT IN DER WOHNUNG title of a painting of 1984 by Martin Kippenberber. Or the text, MANE THECEL FARES (weighed, counted, divided), the threat that a mysterious hand traced on the wall of the room in which king Belshazzar was celebrating what would be their last feast, after the triumphal entry of Cyrus into Babylon in the work Without the title. Archives & Documents (7) (2003-2005).
through the words of others you can trace a geography particular, since the texts unequivocally lead to the reflection and the intentionality concept. “But I never wanted to give up the realm of the pictorial, to the connecting of flesh that constructs and defines the visual, so I decided to settle down in a certain amount of ambiguity border, to the way of the low budget films of Boetticher,” says the artist. And that is, the written words are really powerful, because as is the case with the work untitled (1991), with the text of HER HAND ON MY DICK UNDER MY RAINCOAT, as if the artist had chosen to paint this scene, might have passed unnoticed, but do not the words, to see this sentence written, and with the script already mentioned, Cresci, classic, give a connotation escandalizadora to the work. The aids pandemic, at the beginning of the 90s of the last century, triggered a powerful reactionary movement. A halo of moralism is sifted over the world, taking the disease as a punishment for the active permissiveness sexual. Given this behavior, his reaction was to use texts taken directly from porn magazines. At that time a gallery in new york was interested in his work, but finally abandoned their interest in showing their work. The society today is more than “accustomed” to images of high visual impact, both by the harshness of the news as of the written and digital press. The eye of the spectator is not surprised so easily, however, the written word, its truth and power, will continue to have. Few things arouse today our denial, but the words painted have more rawness to the images.
The exhibition would end with the work Barlanch (1991), with the text DER TOD. The origin of the literary was not the only source that Baez used during these years. He resorted also to other references, such as the librettos and musical. The composers Hans Pfitzner, Bellini, and Felix Mendelssohn or Bizet, were of great utility. Other times I decided to apropiacionismo of artists and works to be admired, as in this case where the text comes from the title of a sculpture, 1925, to Ernest Barlach. This is a document of its time, and the emotional states of each time they end up coming together. For Baez, the reality is stubborn and always has a presence in whatever we do.
José María Báez (Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, spain, 1949) began his artistic career in the literature, founding in 1968, along with Rafael Álvarez Merlo, and others, the poetry journal, Zaitún (Córdoba, 1968-1969). During the decade of the seventies mature your step to the visual arts, maintaining a constant presence in the panorama of artistic, national, since in 1970 he presented his first individual exhibition. In 1980, access to Scholarship, New Forms Expressive of the Ministry of Culture, beginning in this decade a continued work both in the field of pictorial creation as in the interventions of public art and curating exhibitions. He has participated individually and collectively in a multitude of exhibitions, as well as has been involved numerous times in trade fairs and exhibitions of great prestige as ARC. His work is in various public and private collections, currently resides and works in Córdoba.
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