OPENING EXHIBITION ANTIPODEANS NEW ZEALAND 7TH MAY

EXHIBITION ARTIST BOOKS

ANTIPODEANS

MARSDEN BOOKSHOP

KARORI, WELLINGTON NEW ZEALAND

This is a journey which I have decided to share with my friends Louisa Holecz, Sylvia Pennings, José Ramón Magallón and Prado Rodríguez. Their books travelled with me inside my suitcase all the way from Zaragoza to Wellington. There is a fascination with New Zealand seen from afar, especially here in Spain, where I am often reminded that it is the exact antipodes of Aragón. This romantic notion that we are connected through an imaginary line crossing through to the other side of the world has perhaps given meaning to my being here. 

This has also been a special opportunity to collaborate with my sister Anna in her fantastic book shop, Marsden Books. Anna has been a support to me all throughout my career as an artist and through Anna I have managed to maintain contact and show my work in New Zealand. Anna recently collaborated with me for a Video Performance in Orbita, Zaragoza, The Bee Line. This was about our distant communication through internet. All the artists who participate in this show were present at that performance, so now it is a round circle in communication with our exhibition in Anna´s bookshop.

There are return journeys, round trips, one way with no return date, long or short distance, migratory, epic and definitive, the last journey, microscopic journeys, systematic trips by organisms and fluids, seeds and spores.

Joining the infinite list of journeys with these books, we have taken on a symbolic journey of contact between cultures and we search for a link between two worlds which are directly opposite in the antipodes. We are “antipodeans”.

He decidido compartir este viaje de vuelta a Nueva Zelanda con mis amigos Louisa Holecz, Sylvia Pennings, José Ramón Magallón y Prado Rodriguez. Sus libros viajaron conmigo dentro de mi maleta, todo el viaje desde Zaragoza a Wellington. Hay una fascinación con Nueva Zelanda visto desde lejos, sobre todo desde España, donde continuamente me recuerdan que es el punto exacto de los antipodes con Aragón. Este noción romántico  que estamos conectados a través de una linea imaginaria atravesando el mundo quizás da más sentido a mi permanencia aquí.  

Ha sido una oportunidad especial colaborar con mi hermana Anna en su fantástica libreria, Marsden Bookshop. Anna ha sido un apoyo mio a lo largo de todo mi carera de artista y a través de Anna he conseguido mantener contacto y enseñar  mi obra en Nueva Zelanda. Recientemente Anna colaboró conmigo para un performance y vídeo en Órbita, Zaragoza, The Bee Line. Se trato sobre nuestro comunicación a distancia a través de internet. Los artistas quienes participan en este muestra estaban todos presentes en el performance, así que ahora trazamos un circulo de comunicación con nuestra exposición en la libreria de Anna.  

Hay viajes de ida y vuelta, redondos, abiertos, sin fecha de retorno, largos o de corta distancia, migratorios, épicos y definitivos, el último viaje, viajes microscópicos, sistemáticos de organismos y fluidos, semillas y esporas. Uniéndonos a la lista infinita de viajes, con estos libros  hemos emprendido un viaje simbólico de contacto entre culturas, buscando en la lejanía el enlace entre dos mundos directamente opuestos en las antípodas.  Somos “antipodeans”.

marsdenbooks.co.nz

https://m.facebook.com/marsdenbooks/

Catalogue: ISSUU.COM

Longing: Watercolour on paper, wood and string

15 x 15 x 1cm, Extension 148cm

LONGING

“When I was a child the civilization of the West began at a very precise point: the glittering silver-painted dome of the Post Office at the top of College Hill…”

(Cuando era un niño la civilización del oeste empezó en un punto muy preciso: la cúpula brillante y plateado de la Oficina de Correos calle arriba de College Hill…)

Vincent O´Sullivan

I longed to be on this side of the world; “this” being here, Spain, Aragón. I longed for something different, beyond our shores, “our shores” being New Zealand and “I” being me, a New Zealander, born and bred, raised down South in Dunedin, Otago.

Now that I live here and “here” means Spain, I long to be back on the other side of the world in New Zealand which is now the antipodes of where I am.

My longing has taken me back to the mountains I once painted when that was all I knew. Those mountains, The Southern Alps, are the source of my nostalgic trip, which has taken the form of this book.

Yo deseaba estar en este lado del mundo; cuando digo “este lado” me refiero a España, Aragón. Deseaba algo distinto, lejos de nuestras orillas, siendo “nuestras orillas” Nueva Zelanda y el “yo” de entonces se refería a mí como neozelandesa, nacida y educada  allí en el sur, en Dunedin, Otago.

Ahora que vivo aquí, y “aquí” significa España, deseo estar en el otro lado del mundo, en Nueva Zelanda, en las antípodas de donde estoy ahora.

Mis deseos me han devuelto a las montañas que una vez pintaba cuando era lo único que conocía. Esas montañas, The Southern Alps, son la fuente de mi viaje de nostalgia y han tomado su forma en este libro objeto.

BAREHANDED VIDEO

This is the video "Barehanded" which I created as part of a series of work inspired by Sylvia Plaths poetry. I was fascinated by the metaphor of the bare-hands which she used to represent her feelings of exposure and vulnerability in the face of her surrounding community. She felt at once tied, exposed and threatened. The bees are that world she lived in, Her hands are handling the combs without gloves. 

Out of this work I created the painting also called Barehanded, in which the finger prints all together create the image of the queen bee.

SHORTENED VERSION OF THE VIDEO: DISTANTLY CONNECTED

This is the shortened version of the Video I made in June 2016, in which I drew my mother while she read poetry to me and we talked on Skype.

The original video is 10 minutes long, but in the shortened video I have cut back to the essence of the video, by concentrating on the parts where she read the poem by Charles Brasch "The Islands".

In these works, where I am drawing on top of the computer or television screen or projecting the image direct onto a wall I trace around the outline of the figure in movement. I do not wish to draw a realistic portrait of the subject. Instead I wish to capture the essence of the person through line and movement. The lines I draw are almost like a form of writing, as they are drawn continuously without lifting the marker from the surface. The long continuous line moves in response to the words I am hearing. 

These video pieces all grew out of a series of drawing based on the bee, in which I started to draw with a line which I imagined to be like the line a bee would trace as it flies from flower to flower through the air. 

Edited Video of the Performance "The Bee Line"

https://youtu.be/MioAA9dFzM8

This is the link for an edited video of the Performance I did in Órbita, Zaragoza in October 2016.

Exhibition and Performance October 2016

The Bee Line

Órbita

October 2016

 

Patio de las Armas, Zaragoza, Spain

Like a line marked out by a Bee in flight, I draw a line which outlines my sisters faces. I follow their movements and it seems like I am touching their faces with the marker while I draw them.

I use the line to recreate their faces giving them a new form in a different dimension. I play with the space inside and outside of the the screen.

The hand is as expressive as the words in this work. It moves in rhythm with the conversation, and as I trace the line it appears to be part of the dialogue.

It is a risk and it could make a mistake. The hand is at risk in the drawing in the same way as it is when handling the honeycomb in the beehive without using gloves.

Bare-handed, I hand the combs.

The man in white smiles, bare-handed.

Our cheesecloth gauntlets neat and sweet,

The throats of our wrists brave lilies.

He and I

...

(Stings, Sylvia Plath)

Como un trazo marcado por una abeja en vuelo, dibujó una línea siguiendo el contorno de las caras de mis hermanas. Sigo sus movimientos y parece que les estoy acariciando con el rotulador mientras dibujo. Con la línea recreo sus rostros para darle una forma nueva en otro dimensión. Juego con el espacio dentro y fuera de la pantalla.

La mano es tan expresiva como las palabras en esta obra. Se mueve al ritmo de la conversación, y mientras traza su línea parece ser parte del diálogo. Es arriesgado y podría fallar. La mano se expone al riesgo en el dibujo como cuando se manejan los pañales de la colmena sin guantes.

More on Franz Joseph

The series continues...
I have just finished this new drawing of Franz Joseph Glacier. I´ve gone in closer this time and tried to reflect the different textures of the land and ice flow. It´s like a big ice tongue slurping up the rocks and spewing them out slowly as it slides down the valley.

Remembering Franz Joseph III, 
Watercolour and ink drawing on paper, 40x60cm, 2016

Memories of Franz Joseph, New Zealand

I'm working on a series of watercolour drawings, based on my memories of New Zealand. I first came to Spain in 1986, expecting to stay for a year. I have now been living in Spain for 30 years on and off! Hard to believe. It's not surprising I'm beginning to feel nostalgic and this is coming out in my latest work.

A couple of months ago my sister asked me if I could do a New Zealand landscape for her to use for a wedding card. At the time, although I said yes, I actually felt a bit reluctant and in two minds, because the last thing I felt like doing was a chocolate box rendering of the South Island scenery. As time moved on this idea kept going round in my head and finally one afternoon I decided to get on with the task, so searching for images I stumbled across a book of photographs called A Portrait of New Zealand, by Warren Jacobs and Robin Smith. Flicking through the pages I was surprised the way the images did inspire me to draw the land. My sister wanted the image for her son who is celebrating his marriage to a Chinese woman and so this gave me the idea to do the drawings using a linear technique reminiscent of Chinese art and porcelain. I did those drawings using a vertical format often seen in Chinese landscape painting. While doing this first drawing I discovered ideas to do more drawings following this idea and I am continuing to work on them now.

I came across some photos I took on a trip we did back to New Zealand in 2000. I don't know why I had them all bundled up in a pile, hidden away. It was an amazing trip down the West Coast of the South Island, to the glaciers. When you could still catch a glimpse of the glaciers from the highway and the Franz Joseph still spread right down the valley so you could easily walk right up close to the massive wall of ice at the end.
These photos reminded me of how I felt then, slightly in awe of the land and its tremendous beauty. We felt very small as we explored around the base of this glacier.
I'm working on this series of drawings using line and wash, with watercolour markers and sepia ink.

Remembering Franz Joseph Glacier New Zealand, 

Watercolour and ink on paper, 25x37cm, 2016

Remembering Franz Joseph Glacier II,

Watercolour and ink drawing on paper,

60x40cm, 2016