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MOMENTUM AiR
Máximo González // Iván Buenader
2 August – 2 September 2021
Máximo González (b. Argentina, 1971) lives in Mexico City and Alicante.
He is mainly known for his collages made with money paper out of circulation. They have been included in several academic studies, not only from the artistic point of view but also for its economic, transforming and philosophical implications.
The large-scale collages, reminiscence of the political wall paintings of the Mexican muralists, express the complications of a consumer culture that exploits natural resources, produces waste, and lately drives nations to bankruptcy.
Parallel to this work, using varied techniques and media, he realizes huge installations of an immersive character, which could be appreciated at Hospicio Cabañas in Guadalajara, Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, Rubin Center at UT El Paso, Casa America in Madrid, Fowler Museum in LA, and Nuit Blanche Toronto, to name some.
His constant interests are the environment, the education, the schemes of value installed in our society, as well as their historical and forecasted evolution.
His work frequently implies a meticulous construction. It becomes particularly seductive thanks to a balance that exists between poetic content, the intensive manual labor, and the political connotations.
He has also exhibited at Jeu de Paume in Paris, Red Brick Art in Beijing, L.A. MOCA, MOCCA Toronto, Vancouver Art Gallery, San Francisco State University, Nordic Watercolor Museum in Gothenburg, MUAC Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, and the Museum of Modern Art in México City.
On his arrival to Mexico, he was captivated by the social and architectural structure of the informal wandering commerce, which served as inspiration to his cultural non-profit project called “Changarrito”, which started labors in 2004 and, as of today, has exhibited more than 5,000 works of more than 350 emerging artists.
Iván Buenader is a writer and visual artist. He lives and works in Mexico City and Alicante. He graduated in Computer Science at the University of Buenos Aires. He has exhibited his work (painting, photography, video, installation) in contemporary art venues in Latin America, the United States, Canada, India and Europe, while participating of several artist residencies. He has conceptualized and produced collective interdisciplinary projects including poetry, music, dance and performance (‘CFW Poet Agency’). He is author of 11 novels (‘The repents’, ‘Relapse’) and 6 books of experimental poetry (‘Elusive’).
ARTIST STATEMENT
My plastic work seeks to abolish language and, at the same time, is supported by it. It addresses original thought, not ideas. It overrates symbols and then undervalues them. It sends messages to intuition as well as reason. It tries to observe symbols in space and their interrelation, as well as it investigates the nature of materials and their antecedents or provenance, without forgetting the importance of the title in the work and the historical-cultural context in which it is inserted.
Through my creative writing, as well as my drawings, paintings, performances, photographs, videos and installations, I seek to help people understand why they do what they do, through the analysis and interpretation of our conceptions and their origin, in order to promote critical thinking and the poetic experimentation of the world.
– Ivan Buenader, 2021
My work frequently involves a construction that can be composed of video, photography, painting, sculpture, installation, performance, collage, graphic arts, and social actions. When I develop a project, I explore its components in their symbolic state, their traditional and historical context, as well as the impact they generate socially, politically, economically and spiritually.
Recovery, as a way of reclaiming discarded objects, is a common theme for me. I analyze the passage of time on the speeches; how they can expire or become effective according to opportunity or convenient to a current situation.
I seek to create values and rescue those that contribute to critical and responsible thinking.
– Máximo González, 2017