“Tras la pared” Exhibition

December 24th, 2005

Recently opened at the Annta Gallery in Madrid, the collective show “Tras la pared” is one of the first ocassions on which one space from the circuit of the more established and traditional art galleries in Madrid exhibit the work of street artists. In this ocassion the artists that have participated are Sixe, El tono, Nano4814, San and Pilar Soler. Some of them are good friends and frequent collaborators of Subaquatica. If you happen to be in Madrid the exhibition is worth a visit and it clearly shows that this is not the first time these artists, used to display their work on the streets, face the challenge of a indoors exhibit.

We are certanly familiar with the difficulty, not only practical but also theorical and almost ethical, that implies for this kind of artists to exhibit not simply in a indoors space but also an art gallery where their work intends to be sold. The rebelious and altruistic attitude of an artist that displays his work on the streets is somehow contradictory of the commercial logic of an art gallery. But street artists also have to pay the rent. Their professional development can come in the form of collaborations for brand events looking to jump into the experiential marketing bandwagon, or their work as illustrator, graphic designers or motion graphics artist. But also as artists in the traditional sense of those who sell their work in art galleries. The problem, obviously, comes when the artists has to decide how its outside, non-commercial activities relate and differ from their commercial indors work.

El tono

El tono

In public and non commercial art spaces or museums and with exhibitions such as “Beautiful Losers” or the “Ill Communication” exhibits at the Urbis Museum (Manchester, UK), installations seem to be the way to go but when those pieces of art have to be sold, as is the case with art galleries, the approach apparently has to be of a different kind. Exactly as with video artists or conceptual ones who mostly do installations, there are some kinds of artworks that fail to fit into the traditional idea of the fetish-object canvas that you can hang on a wall. Sometimes the solution is to combine elements that, althought they might be for sale, will rarely be sold with drawings, canvases, etc… This is the case, for instance, of the Nano4814 contribution to the “Tras la pared” exhibit.

Nano4814

Nano4814

In any case, the success or failure of the proposal doesn’t relate only to how this problem is adressed by the artist but also by the consistency of his discourse and (such a slippery concept as) his talent. In that sense, we believe that the “Tras la pared” is not a definitive answer to these issues, that we don’t really expect to see anytime soon (the fun would be over), but a fine sample of the current state of things.

San

By the way, one the artists that participate in this show, Sixeart, will have his first solo exhibition in Madrid at our own Subaquatica space in Madrid starting Feb 2nd 2006.

Sixeart

TRAS LA PARED
Sixeart + Nano4814 + San + Pilar + El tono
15/12/2005 - 4/2/2006
ANNTA Gallery
Altamirano 46, 28008 Madrid. SPAIN

Entry Filed under: Miscellaneous