Recently I had an artist talk at
Tansey Contemporary in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I talked about how we can learn,
connect and have a dialogue with history through contemporary art. I used my
work as an example in order to show how artists today can utilize and appropriate narratives from
our collective past in order to comment on current socio-political and
environmental issues. On this blog I'll share with you some of my insights and
experiences from this perspective and summarize some of the points discussed
at the gallery. Since there is so much to be said about this and I wish to
expand a little further on the discussion, this will require me to divide it
into parts. So this is just the beginning...
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Adoracion Capital (2014) Oil on Canvas 30" x 30" by Patrick McGrath Muñiz.
Available at Tansey Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico
When we travel around the world
and specially visit underdeveloped countries that suffer from severe socio- economic
inequality, a new sense awakens in our minds. We can no longer be indifferent
to the world around us and if our sense of empathy is strong enough, our art and different ways of expressing
our concern dramatically change. At least that is what happened to me when I visited
Peru in 1998 and had my first hand experience with poverty and injustice in a
country that is so rich in history, culture, biodiversity and natural beauties.
From that point on, I could not go back to paint beautiful pictures without an irritating
sense of guilt. I had a glimpse into the past but also into the future of
humanity and this awoke a new inspiration that did not allow me to make art for
art sake alone. Even though I kept
creating paintings like this, my personal art journal was filling up with ideas
and concerns about the world around me that needed to be channeled somehow. Art
had to be about so much more than beautiful landscapes, nudes or portraits. Art
has to be about humanity and its place in this planet and in the Cosmos.
Cuzco, Peru, 1998
Unfortunately when we look at
much of what is done today called “Contemporary Art” it seems to be using a
language designed by the elite for the elite. It often takes a view that is
reflective of the 1% and not of the rest of us. It seems to have been infected
by the corporate virus of market speculation and its prime interest of
branding, making lots of money though influential names and mere theater. Even
if it’s created with some socio-political or environmental concern in mind, it
often seems shallow by its obsessive use of shock value, visual forms and
conceptual pretense that ignore or even despise the many while serving the few.
Twin By Robert Ryman (1966) Blank White Canvas at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
When we look back in time, 30,000
years ago, Paleolithic artists used to make art in their caves that did not
serve the interest of a market but rather obey the principles of the natural
and spiritual world around them. With
the rise of the first civilizations around 3,500 B.C. artists would start
creating art that would obey the laws and beliefs of the monarchs, priests,
state and institutionalized religion. Later on with the Christian monotheism
and the ruling monarchy, artists spread their art around a world that was
starting to become globalized with the European conquest and colonization of
the Americas. This art was created in order to serve the interests of the
colonizing countries and their religion. With the advent of the Industrial
revolution in the 1700’s, artists started to deal with the implications of
moving to the city, competing against each other and working with machines and
methods of mass reproduction that gradually re-defined the role of the artist.
Modern art was born out of the reactionary chaos of revolution and increased
speed that compelled artists to re-purpose their art and create an art that
would set themselves apart from other artists as well as from the photograph. The individual mark became the protagonist and
hero in every painting. The notion of originality and the self-referentiality became
fundamental indicators of the modern art and even to this day.
Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 By James McNeill Whistler (1871) Oil on Canvas,
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
But we live in different times
today. We live in an age of information plagued by a massive environmental
crisis that could end our very own existence on this planet. Art should wake up
not only to the realities of other peoples in other countries but to history
itself. Contemporary art should be able to look back in time and see beyond its
modern progenitors and to its distant ancestors and learn from the whole human
experience. We have the right technology and right tools to expand our
knowledge and understanding of our world and it’s past. There is no excuse to remain ignorant and conformist
as artists and as planetary citizens. And it is not just about us and our past
but think about the environment, the planet and its history. Just think about
it, we have been walking around as a species for just 200,000 years on a planet
that is 4.5 billion years old and seen 5 mass extinctions. We are really an
insignificant part of the equation that only relatively recently has made a
significant change to this world. There are so many questions to address, so
many issues to study and explore with our arts, culture and sciences, that
there is simply no more time to waste. While self-exploration is good, the
world is much bigger and older than we think.
La Papisa (2013) Oil and metal leaf on panel 24" x 47" by Patrick McGrath Muñiz.
Available at Tansey Contemporary
