 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
MOTI HASSON GALLERY is very pleased to announce the opening of THE EXPLORATION LIBRARY, an installation by the artist JORGE MÉNDEZ BLAKE exhibited in the North Gallery that takes place from November 6 to January 3, 2009. Please join us for the opening reception on Thursday, November 6, from 6 to 8 PM. Artist will be in attendance.
In the first exhibition at Moti Hasson Gallery, Jorge Méndez Blake presents The Exploration Library, an installation which belongs to a larger body of work titled and developed around the concept of the Library. For him, the idea of the Library (an institutionalized building that collects literary resources) surpasses its traditional definition by their inherent function of spreading knowledge which can be hidden, found, forgotten and ultimately advocates historical narratives that do not always adhere to facts but become his-stories. The construction of the installation also reinforces the fragility of spread of knowledge in that these structures are made by bricks: the appearance of solidity gives a sense of stability, yet bricks can be broken apart and accumulated in infinite ways. Méndez Blake’s visual concepts are a hybrid of language and architecture made of a mixture of audio works, wall-paintings, and architectural models that create micro systems presenting subjects as in the Love Library, the Landscape Library or the Wall Library.
The Exploration Library tells a story of Colonel Percy Fawcett, an English explorer who was lost in the Amazon jungle of Brazil in 1925 while leading an expedition looking for an ancient city. This city, which Fawcett used to call "Z City", was supposed to be the last legacy from a forgotten civilization. The Exploration Library proposes a series of works that deal with subjects of utopia, progress, colonization, exploration realized in the library concept. The North Gallery will become a structural labyrinth where viewers will find themselves exploring hidden truths through their discovery of “Z” city.
Jorge Méndez Blake was born in Guadalajara, México in 1974, where he works and lives. In México, he has received the National Funding for Culture and Arts Grant in the years 2001 and 2007, and the State Funding for Cultural and Arts Grant in 2003. He has realized artistic residences in Braziers International Artist Workshop, Oxfordshire, England, in 2001, ArtLab San Servolo, Venice, Italy, in 2006 y Art Omi International Artist Residence, in Hudson, NY in 2007. His work has been selected for the Monterey FEMSA Biennale 2001, for the Aguascalientes National Young Art Biennale in 2002 and the Yucatan Biennale 2004. He has shown individually in México City in the Museum of Modern Art, in Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros and in OMR Gallery, also in La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain, and in Arena México Gallery and Orozco's Studio in Guadalajara, among others. His work has been shown in collective exhibitions in the MAC/Val Museum and Maison Rouge in Paris, the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, in Warsaw, Poland, the Paranaense Art Institute in Curitiba, Brazil and the Palazzo Casali in Cortona, Italy, the Triangle Project Space in San Antonio, TX, USA, among others. He also have been part of group shows in the main public museums and art spaces in México as the Carrillo Gil Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the JUMEX Collection, the Tamayo Museum, MUCA University City, MARCO Monterrey, National
Gallery hours are Tuesday-Thursday 10am-8pm
Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm
and by appointment.
For more information or to receive images, please contact the gallery at 212-268-4444 or email info@motihasson.com.