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MANUEL OCAMPO & IRENE IRÉ
Monument To The Pathetic Sublime:Resuscitating Goya or an All-out Attempt at Transcendence
April 8 – May 21, 2017
Coagula Curatorial is pleased to present Monument To The Pathetic Sublime, featuring internationally renowned artist Manuel Ocampo in his first Los Angeles exhibition in ten years. In this two-artist exhibit, Ocampo partners with Madrid-based artist Irene-Iré in a series of new works which attempt to bring the dark humor and critical eye of Goya back into our contemporary consciousness through the use and appropriation of his critical imagery from his print portfolio Los Caprichos (1797-1798).
The artists state: “For the moment, we try to function as mediums communicating with ghosts, and as mediums, we become formalists. Confusing the alchemist's paint with that of the mandrake, the paint drips like Pollock's where fetuses manifest themselves in stains and the decaying detritus of sex appear in the dribble. Paint as seminal fluid is essential and symbolic in our works. We create art pieces that are open-ended, adapting our particular view within the legacy of Goya, who, despite 200 years, has allowed his visionary character to be either used or exploited for our own end.”
In Iré's paintings, we see imagery of the Los Caprichos series smudged, stained, and abstracted, almost to the point of annihilating any remnants of Goya's original image. In these paintings, Goya's commentary is brought to the present – the narrative has changed but the stains have seeped through to the here and now.
Manuel Ocampo's take on Los Caprichos is ironic (or perhaps lost in translation) while simultaneously commenting on the problematics of the effectiveness of critique within an art historical context. The imagery from Los Caprichos is utilized as background and then mixed with other characters from art history: Malevich's utopian constructivism to hand-made Pop Art via Looney Tunes. Both Pop and Constructivism may have some relations to Goya, but the connection leads us to a circuitous road full of detours and day long traffic jams, just like in Metro Manila.
Irene-Iré is a Madrid-based artist, who exhibits regularly throughout Europe.
Manuel Ocampo is one of the most influential living contemporary artists working today. In addition to having been shown and collected in numerous international museums, he will represent the Philippines in the 2017 Venice Biennale.
Installation view from Monument To The Pathetic Sublime
Installation view from Monument To The Pathetic Sublime
Installation view from Monument To The Pathetic Sublime
Installation view from Monument To The Pathetic Sublime
Installation view from Monument To The Pathetic Sublime
Manuel OcampoTrials
Oil on Canvas, 48 x 60 in2017
Irene IréAbstenciones, Abscenciones e (In)Continencias
51 x 63 in, Mixed Media, 2017
Manuel Ocampo / Irene IréGewurtztraminer
24 x 36, Oil on Found Painting, 2017
Irene IréGoodbye Pork Pie Hat
51 x 63 in, Mixed Media, 2017
Manuel Ocampoyes sir! No sir! Right away sir!
46 x 70 in, Oil on Canvas, 2017
Irene Iré¼ mitad de Chicharrones para la Oligarquia Hambrienta
51 x 63 in, Mixed Media
Irene IréMy Knee As A Medium, or Entretiens Sur les Sciences Secrètes
51 x 63 in, Mixed Media, 2017
Irene IréTell Me How Your Shadows Play
51 x 63 in, Mixed Media, 2017
Manuel OcampoThey Spruce Themselves Up
51 x 64 in, Oil on Canvas, 2017
Manuel Ocampo / Irene IréZygotic Emancipator
24 x 30 in, Oil on Canvas, 2017
Manuel Ocampo / Irene IréA Monument to the Failed Liberation of the World, Part 5
51 x 64, Oil on Canvas, 2017
Salty Marie Celeste Speaking in Tongues Together with a Bandaged NunWorks on Paper, Dimensions Variable, 2017
Installation View
MANUEL OCAMPO & IRENE IREMonument To The Pathetic Sublime
April 8 – May 21, 2017
PRESS:L.A. TIMES Review (April 19, 2017)
Huffington Post Review (April 21, 2017)
Artillery Magazine Review (May 10, 2017)
CONTACT:COAGULA CURATORIAL
974 Chung King RoadLos Angeles, CA 90012
(323) [email protected]
www.coagulacuratorial.comig: @coagulacuratorial
Hours:WED – SAT, 1-6pm
SUN, 1-4pm& by appt
