Exercícios Superficiais para Galeria José Carlos Martinat

16/11/2010 - 23/12/2010

Galeria Leme is delighted to announce an exhibition of new works by the Peruvian artist José Carlos Martinat.

In his practice Martinat explores and discusses political, economical and social issues through a wide range of techniques. His works are usually deeply connected to their contexts. For the last edition of Bienal do Mercosul the artist presented Monumentos Vandalizables: Abstracciones de Poder 1 and 2, two large installations. On the first one, Martinat merged Brasilia‘s main Force buildings and on the second, the branches’ buildings of the Bienal do Mercosul’ sponsors. For both installations he provided graffiti material so the viewers could express their thoughts on the initially white installations’ surfaces.

For his first solo show at the gallery, Martinat developed a body of works using a new technique that allows him to extract the layer of paint from a wall. For one of the installations, the artist gets letters of propagandas written on walls and composes new sentences that question these propagandas.

The same technique is used for works focused in a more sculptorical discussion. Martinat takes the first layer of the Galeria Leme‘s Project Room‘s facade and brings to the gallery as a large size sculpture. He also explores the possibilities of the new technique by rolling, folding and hanging smaller layers from the streets and from the Project Room’s walls creating different sculptures.

Jose Carlos Martinat was born in Peru in 1974. He has had several solo and group shows, among them: Noord-Holland Biënnale (2010), Mali insitu Peru (2010); 7ª Bienal do Mercosul in Brazil (2009); 2ª Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe in Porto Rico (2009); MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Vigo in Spain (2007). His work is in several important private and public collections such as Mali (Peru) and Tate (England).