SPRING SALON

Caroline Achaintre  Gerasimos Floratos  Lucia Pizzani  Christine Roland  Guadaloup Vilar  Tom Volkaert  

AURORA

Paola Petrobelli  Richard Woods  

Work from Home

Rebecca Ackroyd  Heidi Bucher  Emily Moore  Kaari Upson  

Behind Closed Doors

Richard Woods  

Open and Enclosed

Barnaby Hosking  

Eva Fabregas

Eva Fabregas  

FUNKA

Brice Guilbert  Takuro Kuwata  

Dog Smile

Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili  

Il silenzio non m'inganna

Alessandro Piangiamore  

Fantasia

Caroline Achaintre  Christine Roland  Jonathan Trayte  

Ah Sun-flower ! Weary of Time

Jean-Marie Appriou  

Flora and Fauna

Angelique de Folin  Harumi Klossowska de Rola  

Lydia Gifford

Lydia Gifford  

Hypnagogia

Maria Thurn und Taxis  

Le Ravissement des Couleurs

Pierre Lesieur  

Visual Vertigo

Anton Alvarez  

Havana

Leandro Feal  

Laesae Majestatis

Egle Jauncems  

The Weather in Russia is Fine

Kjetil Berge  

Tropicana

Anton Alvarez  Jonathan Trayte  

Of Things Long Forgotten

Radhika Khimji  Anne Roger-Lacan  

The Beast Within

Maria Thurn und Taxis  

Nomansland

Antony Easton  

Seven Days of Luck

Michel Pérez Pollo  

Eclectic Dreamers

Ching-yuk Jade Ng  Madeleine Roger-Lacan  Faye Wei Wei  

Transition

Angelique de Folin  

Kookoo

James Franco  

9 Times the Modern Man and Moon

Alasdair McLuckie  

Spring Awakenings - Frühlingserwachen

Dean Adams  

Strange I've Seen That Face Before.....

Caroline Achaintre  Anne Roger-Lacan  

Fat Squirrel

James Franco  

In Praise of Shadows

Barnaby Hosking  

Wrapper's Delight

Anton Alvarez  

Weight and Measure

Martin Creed  Jose Dávila  Richard Long  Pedro Cabrita Reis  Fredrik Vaerslev  

The Cosmic Artisan

Elena Bajo  Dieter Hammer  Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh  Gregory Polony  Artie Vierkant  

Spazio Luce

Alberto Di Fabio  

Magnificent Obsession

Matthias Brunner  

Abstract Thoughts

James White  

Visual Vertigo

Anton Alvarez

11 October - 15 December 2018, Geneva, Switzerland
Espace Muraille, 5 Place des Casemates, 1211 Geneva / Switzerland

Siegfried Contemporary and Espace Muraille are pleased to present Visual Vertigo, a solo-exhibition of new works by Anton Alvarez.

Alvarez invents the machines that make his sculptures, and with them creates his own rules and challenges. This ongoing investigation of art and authorship began with a polychromatic thread-wrapping machine that bound together wood forms into functional furniture and abstract, architectural art. The exploration continues with his current project, a monolithic clay extruder that, at the push of a button, ejaculates (or defecates) entire sculptures. The process is not absolutely automatic, it requires an operator’s negotiation of pressure, speed, height, impact, intent, and aesthetic judgment. Not that the operator has to be the artist himself, but this is a world of Alvarez’s own making, and it is, in that sense, his alone to manage and master.

Part of what’s captivating about Alvarez’s art is that the evolution of which he speaks is towards something that seems uncertain to the outsider: Is it progress towards ever greater mastery of the machine or of the material, or a greater blurring of the lines between authorship, art, engineering and craftsmanship? The questions seem to proceed endlessly until the absurdity of art as self-imposed problem solving becomes emblematic of the whole human endeavor – a self-generated, self-referential land and divine comedy.

Alvarez is currently investigating alternative possibilities with the machine, looking at the structural capabilities of thread-wrapped fabric and the decorative details made possible by mixing the glue with paint. "I have full control over the development of the machine," said Alvarez, explaining that the set-up allows him to be independent from industry as well as from tradition. "I can freely experiment and develop it according to what I discover are my needs in this new craft." It is a thought echoed by Glenn Adamson, director of the Museum of Art & Design New York, when he recently wrote, “The 21st-century maker has flattened traditional hierarchies and escaped rigid categories of production through post-disciplinary practices and the innovative application of skill and technique.


List of works


project/023/anton01.jpg

Anton Alvarez


INSTALLATION

Havana

Leandro Feal