WELCOME to FoTyArT # 5/6

Barcelona, December 2006.

This is the third time that Maï T and UFO celebrate the publication of a new issue of

www.fotyart.org

with an exhibition in the H2O gallery.

Different to the last two times there is neither a screening where Maï T is driving the curious inauguration-audience through the web-page nor has UFO constructed an ephermal instalation for the occasion.

Instead Maï T and UFO present an assortment of their recent works and excerpts of various works in progress using photo, collage, painting, sculpture, video and action.
Also on show are several works by friends of FoTyArT: a video and a sculpture by Elias Robledo, two paintings by Mireia and a lampshade designed by Jq. Ruiz.
All the exposed works of art relate to journeys as # 5/6 of www.fotyart.org is about travel.

Room A:

Sketch from Spain- number 101 by UFO, 2004-2006.
Mixed media on canvas, 330 x 160 cm.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

The painting is hung vertical though it was painted horizontal, covering the wall from floor to ceiling.
By hanging it vertical the figurative elements retreat and a more abstract field comes to the fore.
The general tone of the picture is black.
In the center there is a grey oval form- the extinct hearth of Phoenix, mythical bird of rebirth who used to reappear time and again out of the ashes yet now it seems that he is gone forever, most likely sliced to pieces that were cooked, sold and eaten.
An apeman´s face is drawn in blue into the grey ashes.
Above the still burning fire is a gigantic edelweiss with a pale yellow center that recalls a sun painted on canvas.
Yellow is used as the background of the black, blue and green colored writings:
" 830 million people suffer from hunger, 830 million people have overweight."
" We waste too much natural resources:
150 of species- plants and animals- become extinct per day."
"The famous Cervantes, want of biographic dates... spent the end of his life in Madrid at no time getting out of poverty."
Two life-size figures in blue and green: on the far right Cervantes seated, reading a book and on the far left the painter, standing holding a brush like painting this very painting.

Enlightenment by Maï T and UFO, 2006.
Metal suitcase 16 x 27 x 9,5 cm, plastic holding device for a globe 40 cm height with 40W lightbulb, cable and plug for illuminating a globe, metal globe 5 cm diameter.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

The sculpture is placed on the floor below above mentioned painting.

The metal suitcase in the size of an enzyklopaedia is opened.
Placed in it is the holding device of a football-sized globe with a lightbulb in the center.
The holding device could not fit in the closed suitcase.
A plum-size globe, smaller than the lightbulb, is hanging down from the top of the holding devise.
The little lightbulb is a naked light that easily blinds us while it illuminates the globe and the painting all the same.
It is the only lightsource in room A and room B safe the light of two video projections and the light that comes through the opening between room B and room C.

A-River-Run- by Maï T & UFO, 2006.
DVD, color, silent, 18´ loop, single channel projection. Artist proof. Produced by FoTyArT with the participation of Andrea Algarbe, Andrea Molina, Nicolás Balangero and Diego Castro.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

Numerous shoots of various length showing the Suquía River running through the town of Cordoba, Argentina.

The video is projected in an angle of 45 degrees from the wall of the projector onto the wall of the projection and 45 degress down from the top of one wall to the middle of the other.
The distorted frame & image creates a sensation of vertigo.

Room B

 

 

Burning Burning Burning by Maï T & UFO, 2005-2006.
DVD , color, sound, 23´ loop, single channnel projection. Artist proof. Produced by FoTyArT with the generous support of F.C. Giercke and F. Peloschek. Courtesy: FoTyArT

One single take, with various jump-cuts, of monks feeding a fire, prayers and music during the Fire ceremomy of the Mani Rimdu ceremony presidet by Trulshig Rinpoche ´Precious Destroyer of Illusions´ at a buddhist monastery in the Himalayas, Nepal

 

 

World with Borders by UFO, 2006.
Mixed media on canvas, 260 x 165 cm. Courtesy: FoTyArT

A map of the world painting with all the political borders indicated in red color.

The painting refers to BlogSpot
http://www.world-without-borders.blogspot.com/
The project World Without Borders asks for the globalisation of human rights- human rights are women rights- and for the mutual respect of peoples, peoples homes and territories, local cultures, religons and philosophies.

 

Hundred Balloons by Maï T & UFO, 2006.
Inflated rubber balloons, various colors, various size.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

An action-sculpture blown up and placed on the floor of the gallery below work # 4 and # 5 by the inauguration audience.

 

Room C

Travel Paintings by UFO, 2004-2006.
Mixed media on streched canvas, size- if not otherwise indicated- 33 x 24 cm each.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

Fourteen small paintings, twelfe of them hung without interspace as a vertical row, called Endless Column, starting from the bottom:

€ = m2 ca
The title painted in gold diagonaly over a gold-painted surface that resembles a brick wall. It is the relatively old Einsteinformula transformed for the 21st century: So-and-so-many €uro equals so-and-so-many squaremeter apartment.

Eat good Eat healthy
Two children, one painted in yellow, one in red; the one skinny the other one fat. The red kid is holding up a lump of gold. A red hand holds up a potato. "There is tenderness only in the coarsest demand: that no-one shall go hungry any more." Minima Moralia (100), T.W. Adorno

Labyrinth
The individuall letters of the title written in an arbitrary way in a very liquid blue-violett all over the picture. Waterlines running down are confusing the reading even more. Almost impossible to read labyrinth. A plan for a real labyrinth created with the letters of the word labyrinth.

B/W Laberinth
The left half of the picture is a black labyrinth on a white background and the right half is a white labyrinth on a black background.

Red Bridge
A bridge that connects three places seen from above.

That´s what there is
People in a garbage dump, searching for food and anything that they could sell.

Never Again- Nunca Mais
Volunteers collecting oil slicks caused by a 70.000 ton oil-spill of the tanker Prestige on the coast of Gallizia in 2003.

A Dream
Two camels in the desert. It is raining.

"I need a Brake"
An inventor looking out of his studio window.

Tired of inventing
The subjective point of view of the inventor looking out of the window: a white plain with a blue frame.


The Brain
You may paint a brain, but...The brain as a labyrinth.

CineLove
A couple painted in red on blue and in the background their mirror-image, smaller.
CineLove is placed highest in the Endless Column.

for bigger images of Travel Paintings clic www.fotyart.org/travel/imagenes5-6/cuadroshvu

 

 

A World Without Borders by UFO

An oval-shaped, geografical presentation of the earth, indicating remaining forests, plains, mountain-chains and deserts, surrounded by darkblue space.

 

Peace & Art by UFO, 38 x 55cm.

A coat of white brushstrokes surrounds the letters of the titles, the letters itself remain in the white of the primed canvas. "None of the abstract concepts comes closer to fulfilled utopia than that of eternal peace". Minima Moralia (100), T.W. Adorno

 

Room D

Maï T Nepal by Maï T, 2005-2006.
Colorprint on handmade paper, papersize 21 x 29,7 cm. Portfolio with 54 sheets, artist´s proof edition of 1/2 and 2/2.
Produced by FoTyArT with the generous support of F.C. Giercke and F. Peloschek.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

A selection of altogether 324 images- out of approximately 1800- that Maï T made during a five week stay in Nepal in fall 2005.
Images of local people in action, portraits, group portraits, landscapes, cityscapes and still lives, all captured with a fresh and clear look; shots that respire humanity and hope without falling in clichés or sentimentality. These photos contain a certain spontanity, it´s the ground-work-, the certain frontal look not to be confused with snapshots.
From one end to the other of the entire wall three lines of nylon cord are stretched. On each line 18 paper-sheets are attached with tiny clothes pegs, each sheet showing six photos.

Portrait of a Sherpa Family by Maï T, 2005-2006.
Color print on handmade paper, papersize 21 x 29,7 cm, framed. Artist proof. Courtesy: FoTyArT

One image out of the Maï T Nepal portfolio, enlarged to paper size.

 

 

 

Walk to Dud Khunda Mountain by Maï T & UFO, 2005-2006. Samsonite suitcase (55 x 75 x 20 cm), Toshiba laptop, Diorama presentation of approximately one hundred and fifty photos.
Produced by FoTyArT with the generous support of F.C. Giercke and F. Peloschek.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

A grey, out-dated laptop on closed dark-blue suitcase, showing images of a ten-days-walk from above 3500 meter up to an icelake on 4500 m´s altitude at the foot of the sacred Dud Khunda Mountain in Nepal.
This is a region between heaven and earth.
We can only pass through, nobody can permanently live here.
The clouds are below this altitude so there is sun all day long.
Once the sun is gone you better make a fire if you can.

 

 

Room E: The-Friends-of-FoTyArT- Lounge

www.fotyart.org by UFO, 2006.
Mixed media on stretched canvas, 33 x 41 cm. Courtesy: FoTyArT

A coat of permanent green painted with a small brush all around the title letters, applying a Bauhaus period typography by Josef Albers. The letters itself remain in the white of the primed canvas.

 

Travel Sculpture by Maï T & UFO, 2006.
Baby carriage, TV monitor, DVD player, DVD Welcome to FoTyArT # 5/6 Travel- Viaje (DVD, color, silent, 38´loop, single channel. Artist proof. Produced by FoTyArT), spherical glass-vessel 25 cm diameter, plastic holding device for a globe 13 cm height, rubber ball 8 cm diameter, wooden spiral approximately 180 cm height, rope, eleven plastic cars 4 x 2 x 3 cm each.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

A TV monitor on top a baby carriage´s arm-rests.
On the monitor we see a video that shows 456 images in a rhythm of 5 seconds each

and this is the tip of the iceberg of all the images of www.fotyart.org.# 5/6

A spherical glass-vessel is fixed on top of the monitor.

 

 

The vessel contains a mounting device used for globes. Instead of a globe it holds a pink ball in the size of a game ball that has relief-images of fish bones on one side of its surface and then, walking around the vessel one discovers the relief-image of a smiling cat´s head.

 

A wooden spiral is suspended from the ceiling and reaches down just until a handbreadth above the vessel. Eleven little plastic cars in blue, green, red and yellow are spiralling up towards the ceiling and we may wonder where they are heading at...maybe to the moon? Bon Voyage!

 

 

 

Two works by Elias Robledo:

Zahatoviguetza by Elias Robledo, 2006.

DVD, Color, Sonido - 2’37 loop. Courtesy: Elias Robledo

"Zahatoviguetza - Es el nombre de una danza de la conquista que forma parte de los rituales festivos indoamericanos.
En idioma zapoteco, zahatoviguetza, se traduce por fiesta (zaha) de plumas (tovi) brillante, colorista (guetza) , generalmente llamado danza de las plumas.

Las Danzas o Bailes de la Conquista constituyen un complejo festivo-ritual con fuerte implantación en los altiplanos andinos de Perú y Bolivia, los altos de Guatemala y diversos estados del área central mexicana. Su presencia también se registra diseminada por varios otros países latinoamericanos.

En este video presenciamos el intento de un bailador de ejecutar una sencilla danza que produce su propia música." Elias Robledo

 

Havanna Souvenir by Elias RobledO, 2006.
Instalación 150 x 200 x 50 cm Aprox., hojas de aluminio dorado, chinchetas, yeso blanco. Courtesy: Elias Robledo

"En Buenos Aires, los alfajores Havanna eran un regalo que se llevaba de regreso de las vacaciones en Mar del Plata, una ciudad turística de la costa bonaerense donde se fabrican. En la actualidad, es uno de los souvenir más habituales de los inmigrantes argentinos.

Unos barcos de papel realizados con el envoltorio de estos alfajores y otros de yeso blanco, invierten su sitio natural, jugando a averiguar, cuál es el grado de banalización de la anécdota al convertirse en imagen en el espacio expositivo." Elias Robledo

 

Two paintings by Mireia:

Tao Evolution by Mireia, 2006.

Mixed media on streched canvas, 80 cm x 80 cm.
Courtesy: Jq. Ruiz Millet

"Esfera taoista de l´eternitat on els nostres esperits ballen a ritme d´onades sobre sorra, aire i foc; matèries indefinides i textures mòvils on la llum...sorprèn." Mireia

 

Mundigat with boots by Mireia, 2006.

Mixed media on streched canvas, diameter 40 cm.
Courtesy: FoTyArT

"El rei de la fàbula realista." Mireia

Showroom of the H2O gallery

Eternal Light by Jq. Ruiz Millet, 2006.

Hand-written and painted lampshade, 26 cm height, 13 cm diameter, tea-light candle. Courtesy: Jq. Ruiz Millet

A device for a voyage inwards, towards the mind and soul..

 

FlyingCarpet by UFO, 2003.
Mixed media on streched canvas, 41 x 27 cm. Courtesy: FoTyArT

The selfportrait of a clown wondering about town, with the endstations of the subway lines of Barcelona written around his face.
The red nose of the clown in the center of the picture is the Plaza Catalunya, the geographical center of Barcelona, the biggest shopping center in the world.

This paintings refers to the video FlyingCarpet by UFO (2003, miniDV, color, sound, 16 hours) that was inspired by the book No me rayes by Jq. Ruiz (Edición Les Idiotes, 2003).

room F: Entrance Hall

Welcome to FoTyArT # 5/6 by Maï T & UFO, 2006.
Plotter print, 90 x 135 cm. Courtesy: FoTyArT

Multicolored credit-list of fotyart # 5/6.

Homenaje a Ana Planella by Maï T & UFO, 2006.
Plotter print, 135 cm x 90 cm. Courtesy: FoTyArT

A large print of the photo-colage utilized for the invitation card of this exhibition.

text by Harald V. Uccello, January 16th, 2007

see more inauguration Photos
by L'Altrange