While studying abroad in Barcelona this past spring, I had the chance to see a lot of wonderful art, both old and contemporary. To me Spanish art, and the culture as a whole really, carries an inherent exoticism. It might have something to do with the beautiful and arid landscape, the music or the cuisine, but it always existed for me as some fantastical realm far away, old and wild. Spanish artists are great characters, with unique flamboyance and swagger, very passionate and overflowing with personality. I met several artists as well as young writers and curators in Barcelona; they all seemed to come from a different time. They fully embodied the romantic ideas of their titles with all their energy and a distinct quirkiness. I think that there is something to be said of their 'passion', a word that has become cheesy in our culture, almost shut away by our need to be suave and cool.
Nevertheless, much of Spanish contemporary art is influenced by American contemporary art and post-modernism. Installations, text based work, video and sound work, performance, interactive and public projects are the main artistic language in Barcelona. I stumbled across the work of an artist by the name of Juan Muñoz on the beach in the city. I didn't even like this particular sculpture all that much, but I decided to research him further for my contemporary Spanish Art class at the local university.
Muñoz began making work around 1982. He had studied in New York City and I think that the influence of minimalist art, as well as post-modernism and the work of newer conceptual artists like Bruce Nauman is very apparent in his work. I like that he took what he could from all these different philosophies and ways of making art and ended up with a very personal and continuously evolving result. His art is very much concerned with context and association, Muñoz manipulates space and consequently the viewer. He wants you to develop a relationship with his sculptures and installations, which is something complex, but I think his work lends itself to this approach. As a viewer your role is shifted and you become an integral part of the work. Through the use of subtle 'tricks' and illusions he attempts to expose our human weaknesses in terms of perception and communication. I love art that makes me do a double take and think about how we look at the world and even ourselves. For me Muñoz' work is an experience, something that I hope to achieve in my own work in the future.
*For an interview with Juan Muñoz, click here.
For more images, click here.
quite quite interestingly curious and pleasing...
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