Exhibition 19
Antenas [Antennae] by Alejandro Sticotti ● Monolitos Difusos [Vague Monoliths] by Rodrigo Bravo
02/12/2017 - 02/03/2018
Transmaterial
Curatorial text by Martin Huberman
Over the course of their respective careers, both Alejandro and Rodrigo have been able to take their work, their way of making and of surviving in this field, beyond the product and into the realm of lifestyle.
I think understanding that is important to understanding their work.
Their projects and distinctive styles draw on experiences. They are stories compiled out of a constructive, aesthetic, and spatial drive. They are not merely material, but also emotional pursuits that build a memory that some of us have not yet had. Both are strikingly interested in the relational aspect of their objects, where they attempt to move from the intimacy of a moment to the definition of a hierarchy of volumes, for example. Those indirect languages determined by the subtlety of proportions and touch are the fruit of a combination of different fields and their universes, on the one hand, and the lifestyle to which they inadvertently look as they put forth a series of pieces determined by the unequivocal dialogue between hand and machine, on the other. Repetitive and precise machine work meets hand carving to highlight composite lumber. That leap back from wood pulp to the base, to volume, to the power of a stone, a tree trunk, a stick, depends on knowledge of the processes not only technical, but also spiritual, at stake in carpentry, one of the purest crafts known. It should come as no surprise, then, that that pursuit yields an indeterminate space of antennae and monoliths, works with both familiar vocabulary and indefinite character.
Antenas [Antennae] by Alejandro Sticotti
This project started out as a game: to apply the word antenna—initially an entomological and later a technological term—to the rules of my world, the world of carpentry. In both cases, antennae are instruments that help define the setting by constructing a series of invisible ties that provide the individual with a new reading of his or her context, whether immediate or distant. What antennae do, mostly, is communicate, translate, convey, and decode information; they are, in today’s universe, fundamental.
What drives my attempt to imitate that system is determination to broaden the language of my work in carpentry, to go beyond the strictly useful and into the relational, to cast aside the rational to make more room for experience and experiment.
A group of wooden antennae adjusted to fit the proportions of the workshop and the materiality that interests us. The antennae are symmetric, convulsed, toned in order to issue new rules; they capture sensations that connect the spirit of making to a new undefined setting like an art gallery.
Ph by Javier Agustín Rojas
Monolitos Difusos [Vague Monoliths] by Rodrigo Bravo
Which of us has not been on the shore, walking amongst the rocks and, upon sitting down to rest on one of them, found it such a comfortable seat that one could spend the rest of the day there?
The rock is not designed. Is it there just because?
Most likely. We are the ones who artificially endow the things around us with logics, constantly interpreting their forms and functions, designing devices that supposedly make what we do easier.
Those ideas and ways of interpreting objects are amongst the motivations and aims of the Vague Monoliths series.
As the series unfolds, the intention is to find a space between the practical and the emotional, to grant the object an indeterminate quality and character.
That ambiguous and hazy quality is what underlies conceptually the design of this series of objects. In a sculpture-like pursuit, it builds a formal logic through textures and contrasts while an association of volumes and proportions takes on a practical dimension on a scale like furniture—it is possible to make out the shapes of benches, seats, and tables.
Like with stones on the beach, the logic applied decontextualizes. It operates on a technological-material level. The raw material (MDF) is combined with both new technologies and artisanal techniques, including work with classic carpentry instruments like gouge and chisel.
The series of objects makes use of a malleable perceptual logic open to interpretation. It dwells in an intermediate space between sculpture and furniture, proposing a number of readings joined by ambiguous, indeterminate objects
Ph by Javier Agustín Rojas
Images from Exhibition #19
Ph by Javier Agustín Rojas
Communication
Flyers & Trípticos by Ariel Di Lisio
Design process by Rodrigo Bravo - Plans
Random
B Side
Montajes [Production and installation of the exhibition] is a series of videos on the processes of constructing the space; it tracks the efforts made in the production of the pieces that have intervened in the Monoambiente gallery space.
Direction: Esteban Radice
