NEW YORK, NY.- Y Gallery, in conjunction with Galeria Vermelho-São Paulo, present the first New York exhibition of Brazilian artist, Mauricio Ianês.
Ianês’ breadth of work is diverse, yet congruent, as it seeks to explore the issues inherent in the multifarious forms of language. Verbal, artistic and symbolic language shapes and defines our worldview, yet simultaneously fails at fully grasping its own structure of human interaction and communication. Within his performances, videos, sculptures and photographs, Ianes often subjugates these imperfections of language in relation to its opposite, silence. His works develop, present and re-contextualize the socio-political and power relations of language by virtue of its abuse, malfunction and distortion.
The diptych, Sigh and Silence, depicts the superposition of a series of outlined commas, creating a virtual, breathing-related space for the observer - an action essential to the use of the human voice. This emotionally charged space correlates to the title’s poetics – suggesting a pause, full silence and subsequent cease of language.
Voz was selected from a series of three works where the words Discurso (speech in its ability to articulate sense through spoken form), Fala (the ability to speak) and Voz (voice) are painted directly on the wall and crossed out with a neon “X.” The three words surmise the possible actions related to language, describing operations that have no actual materiality, and thus are painted on the wall as hypothetically bi-dimensional. Their denial is juxtaposed by the neon cross, which simultaneously negates and illuminates each message. This series references philosophers, Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida, who made the crossing of words in their texts an instrument to call attention to the words’ alternate or perhaps original significances. Voz accentuates issues of censure and imposed/self-induced silence and the communicative possibility of silence as a whole.
Spectres of Red appropriates and distorts the form and meaning of flags, criticizing the patriotic void and abstract idea of a nation, society or community’s representation through a visual sign, which Ianes likens to using a single word to describe disparate, contradictory objects. The twenty-six flags of the federative Brazilian states plus the capital of Brazil (an independent state in itself), were reproduced in respect of their official design but entirely manufactured in the same red fabric with red embroidery, thereby distorting and mis-characterizing the flags’ original purpose and political agenda.
Via Negativa (Negative Way/ Negative Path), the word “NO” is rotated around its letter “O,” creating a logo-like sign that represents itself. As it circles around itself, the structure presents in a propagandistic manner the tautological, self enclosed concept of denial.
Mauricio Ianês was born in Santos, Brazil in 1973. His work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiero; 29th and 28th Biennale of Sao Paulo; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Forum of Live Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Rencontre Internationale de L’Art Performance, Quebec, Canada; and the Museum of Image and Sound and Brazilian Art Museum, Sao Paulo; among many international solo and group exhibitions. Ianes has participated in multiple residency programs including Residence Cite des Arts, Paris, France; Quartier 21, Vienna, Austria; and Little Theatre, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Distinguishing honors include the 15th English Culture Award and second place in the Michelangelo II Talent Award, Sao Paulo. His work is part of numerous private and public collections.
