Artur Barrio and Cristina Motta present at Anexo Millan the exhibition “AGUATÁ - ...... C .....A ...O .... S”, displaying 40 pictures from the series “Poisoned Waters”, “Traces of a work” and “Enfante”. Besides Cristina Motta’s photography, Artur Barrio appropriates the exhibition space, transforming it into his own studio. Only days before the opening, the artist creates an unique situation or experience, which can be seen by the public from March 8 until April 8.
Artur Barrio’s work challenges the traditional artistic vocabulary, in that the word “exhibition” (and its historically sedimented meaning) does not seem to suit what the artist proposes in the way he displays his art works in galleries and institutional spaces. More than extending, reducing or distorting the current meaning of concepts such as exhibition space, art work and exhibition, Barrio employs another logic, questioning what is the essence of these ideas and deliberately frustrating the expectations that guide us, as the audience, as we come across them.
By recognizing the modus operandi not only of the art system, but also systems in general (including the world system), and by not identifying with them, Barrio does not resign himself to create a work that, in opposing such systems, continues to recognize (negatively) the same essential issues. More than that, his radical poetics shows that the act of cluttering, the breakdown of boundaries, the idea of the ephemeral and the reversibility of situations are “exercises of freedom” with strong emancipatory power.
While occupying the long main hall of the Anexo Millan (opened in 2015 and located only 50 meters away from the Millan Gallery), photographer Cristina Motta presents 40 unpublished images produced in 2016, divided into three series: “Traces of a Work”, “Poisoned Waters” and “Enfante”.
Passionate about painting, the artist seeks the essence of this technique through photography. This devotion is perceived when we look at her photographic works that are almost abstract in principle, but at a closer perspective they reveal a great poetic force, originated in her experiments with nature, lights, shadows and movement. Cristina Motta’s work navigates between illusion and detail, highlighting certain shades of colours, such as blue, which predominate in seemingly obscure images that reveal fragile world situations and great beauty.