Téchne H.H by Verónica Vázquez
Opening 25th of April 2018 at 8:00pm (free event)
An exhibition by the acclaimed Uruguayan sculptor Verónica Vázquez, curated by Alejandro Martín, in collaboration with Piero Atchugarry.
Espronceda, Center for Art & Culture, and Piero Atchugarry gallery are pleased to present the first exhibition of Uruguayan artist Verónica Vázquez in Barcelona.
The exhibition “Téchné H.H” is a humanistic melody, reborn from elements manufactured and conceptualised by humanity.
In Greek, the word Téchné means both technique and art. The work of Verónica Vázquez is nourished by that ambivalence: she creates her art from the remains of objects, machines, artificial materials and human codes, bringing them into harmony through three-dimensional structures that draw us in and reveal other realities, functions and emotions.
We live in the digital age, currently 5.0, dominated by highly sophisticated logical algorithms and a perception of reality through bright screens, luminosity and high resolution. Yet Verónica proposes an era of Humans with Humans — H.H.
The viewer must perceive her work holistically. Our rational mind will inevitably want to analyse the origin of the pieces — that is human nature — but they have already shed their original function. The artist, like the sap of a tree, absorbs them, blends them and uses them to nourish new green leaves. These compositions may be part of a complex hardware, circuits offered to our thinking — human software. Artistic creation illuminates us as if it were open code that our eyes rewrite; our senses are moved and, finally, as spectators we arrive at an “emotional artificial intelligence”. For Vázquez, one of her great artistic references is Gertrud Goldschmidt, with whom she shares concepts such as line, space and the grid.
In the work shown in the image we can clearly perceive the artist’s universe and language: a blend of poetic composition, resonance of materials and new language. Taken to its extreme, the image might be described as a sophisticated motherboard, a not-yet-invented hardware of artificial and human intelligence through which software flows — a free code that connects emotionally with the most human and natural aspects of the sophisticated animal we are.
The work of Verónica Vázquez finds resonances in Barcelona, with artists who have shaped the personality and sensibility of the city: from the poetic compositions of Joan Brossa and the pictorial collages of Antoni Tàpies, to the processes of accumulation and organisation of Ignasi Aballí. It also connects with a new generation of artists from the city who reuse collected remnants of objects and materials to generate their artistic pieces, such as David Bestué, Patricia Dauder and Jordi Mitjà.
This return to the human that the artist proposes leads us to reflect on our contemporaneity: how insatiable technology, in its obsession to defeat nature, transforms and destroys it, polluting it through industrial processes and, in a runaway consumer market, generating ever more waste. Yet new contemporary initiatives seek to return to a circular economy — a concept intrinsic to Verónica’s work.
Techne H.H offers us that experience, reflection and melodic energy at the Espronceda Center in Barcelona.
About the artist
Verónica Vázquez.
Born in 1970 in the department of Treinta y Tres, Uruguay, Verónica Vázquez studied Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Engraving, Ceramics, Tapestry and Art History. She attended the Pablo Atchugarry Foundation, where she was in contact with its founder. This experience allowed her to meet masters such as Octavio Podestá, Henrique Broglia, Miguel Ángel Battegazzore and Wifredo Díaz Valdéz — important figures in Uruguayan art.
A significant step in her education was the course in History and Theory of Art taught by artist Miguel Ángel Battegazzore, and the Sculpture Workshop with Luis Robledo at the Casa de la Cultura in Maldonado, Uruguay. She completed further ceramics studies in Buenos Aires with the potter Jorge Fernández Chiti.
Through a process of searching and collecting materials, Vázquez recovers discarded objects to create visually striking sculptures and wall reliefs. Her work references both the history of Uruguayan constructivism and the legacy of Italian Arte Povera.
In 2014, Piero Atchugarry gallery began to represent her work, immediately organising solo exhibitions in 2014 and 2015. The gallery subsequently published a monographic catalogue of her work.
In September 2015, her work was exhibited at the “Amore e Scelta” foundation, Abbazia di Rosazzo, Udine, Italy. In March 2016, art historian Luciano Caprile organised a solo exhibition of her work at the Commenda di Pré Museum in Genoa.
In April 2016, curator Luca Tomiò selected her work Moldes for inclusion in the exhibition Paradiso Inclinato at the Ex Dogana in Rome, alongside works by masters such as Alighiero Boetti, Gino De Dominicis, Tano Festa, Jannis Kounellis, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luigi Ontani, Giulio Paolini, Mario Schifano, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini and Cesare Tacchi.
In May 2016, her work was shown in the collective exhibition “Love and Choice” at the MIIT Museum in Turin. In November of the same year, the National Museum of Visual Arts in Montevideo held a major retrospective of her work. In 2017, Vázquez participated in “The Hidden Dimensions II”, a collective exhibition curated by Ilaria Bignotti at Marignana Arte, Venice, during the Biennale. That same year she held solo exhibitions at Marignana Arte in September. In December 2017, the Efrain Lopez Gallery in Chicago presented Vázquez’s first solo exhibition in the United States.
Her works are held in private collections in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Italy and the United States, as well as in public collections including the Buckhorn Sculpture Park (USA), the Pablo Atchugarry Foundation (Uruguay) and the National Museum of Visual Arts (Uruguay).
Piero Atchugarry gallery
Located in Pueblo Garzón, Uruguay, Piero Atchugarry is a contemporary art gallery operating in both primary and secondary markets. The gallery was founded in September 2013 with an exhibition of post-war Italian art. On 5 January 2014, it moved to a larger space in Garzón, occupying a converted old stable — an intriguing architectural context for presenting contemporary art.
In December 2013, the gallery launched a residency programme. Artists from around the world are invited to regenerate and create site-specific works inspired by the tranquillity and beauty of the Uruguayan landscape. Participants to date include: Raffaele Rossi (Italy, b. 1958), Daniel Papaleo (Argentina, b. 1968), Humberto Cazorla (Venezuela, b. 1953), Octavio Podestá (Uruguay, b. 1929), Diego Santurio (Uruguay, b. 1977), Peter Schwickerath (Germany, b. 1942), Luca Benites (Brazil, b. 1981) and Verónica Vázquez (Uruguay, b. 1970). The programme aims to educate the public about artistic processes by transforming the gallery into an artist’s studio. Visitors can explore on-site artistic practices and exchange ideas directly with the artists. Each visiting artist develops a project in Garzón and creates a specific installation for the site or for the 22-hectare sculpture park surrounding the gallery, leaving a permanent trace of their residency.
By December 2018, the gallery will open a second location in the United States, occupying a 1,000 square metre warehouse at 5520 NE 4th Avenue in the heart of Little Haiti, Miami — an exciting new space for promoting international contemporary art and supporting the careers of both emerging and established artists.
Alejandro Martín
Barcelona-based art curator working at an international level. He holds a degree in Art and a Master’s in Artistic Production and Research from the University of Barcelona, with curatorial studies and cultural management at the Sotheby’s Institute London and Node Center Berlin.
At the Espronceda Art Center he has curated several exhibitions, including: “Burbujas de Ocio” featuring several Catalan artists; “In one breath” by Ernesto Cánovas; and “What do you say?” by Römer + Römer. He has organised several conferences on contemporary art and collecting: “Mecenet Talk”.
He previously curated exhibitions in Barcelona and at international art fairs. He currently directs and curates the “Act Utopia Lab” project for Espronceda, where artists, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs collaborate to produce disruptive innovation for social and business purposes. He was recently invited to join the MACBA Foundation.
