Opening Reception: Friday, January 29, 2016, 7-10pm
Spinello Projects
7221 NW 2nd Ave
Miami, FL 33150
Spinello Projects is pleased to present Invisible Country, a solo exhibition from Miami-based artist Farley Aguilar.
Aguilar sources his paintings from antique photographs, in the style of pre-arranged group portraits. He incorporates elements of bold, almost frightening colors and mythic symbologies into his despairing, furiously passionate works. For Invisible Country, Aguilar visually builds on the ephemeral writings of Italo Calvino, whose 1972 work Invisible Cities set a benchmark for contemporary Surrealist and Postmodern faux-narratives:
”The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.”
-Italo Calvino
Within seemingly vacant, haunted domestic and public spaces, Aguilar’s distorted characters populate familiar scenarios of unrest, disquiet, and active protest. There are hints of the figures looking outward, beyond their present conditions, but they remain static and dazed. In such a guise, his subjects are closer to Calvino’s “acceptance” of the “inferno” versus resistance. Thus, complacency descends into quiet madness and loathing, acceptance creeps into resentment and paranoia. An increased awareness of negative spaces and more pronounced architectural forms is a product of Aguilar’s remarkable absorption of undercurrents within the long history of Expressionism, Art Naïf, and Surrealism.
Invisible Country will be Aguilar’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. Exhibition runs through March 9, 2016.
—
Farley Aguilar was born in Managua, Nicaragua in 1981. Aguilar was raised in Miami since age five: he is a self-taught artist recognized internationally. His work communicates sensations of dread, danger and volatility filtered through vibrations of the ‘mob’ mentality. Aesthetic and critical influences include Elias Canetti (whose theories of crowds and ‘packs’ question the effectiveness and vanity of authority figures), Faust (who warned of the inherent self-destruction found in the quest for total enlightenment) and the German Expressionists. Aguilar incorporates elements of bold, almost frightening colors and mythic symbologies into his despairing, furiously passionate works. He has exhibited in institutions and galleries, including Spinello Projects, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Fondation Frances, and Orlando Museum of Art. Aguilar’s work has been featured in publications including New York Times, El Nuevo Herald, Miami New Times, and Artforum. His work is held in notable collections including Susan and Michael Hort, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Fondation Frances, and Orlando Museum of Art. In 2015, Aguilar was Orlando Musem of Art Florida Prize in Contemporary Winner, an award and exhibition recognizing the achievement of Florida-based artists. Aguilar lives and works in Miami.
Spinello Projects is a Miami-based contemporary art program founded in 2005. The gallery supports and promotes the work of artists with unorthodox and experimental practices. Its mission: to initiate fundamental changes in Miami’s visual landscape and to present new aesthetic challenges to a broader global viewership.
The post SPINELLO PROJECTS PRESENTS “INVISIBLE COUNTRY” – BY FARLEY AGUILAR | OPENING RECEPTION appeared first on ART IS ABOUT LLC.