Abdul Vas
Casado Santapau, Madrid
The argument that the exhibition project raises in this new presentation at Casado Santapau Gallery that we are referring to, is framed by a huge projection of elements, but it refers specifically to the relationship between this new species of humanoid chickens with machines. More precisely, with the great freight transportation artifacts that are symbols of the North American imperialist power: the Navistar trucks. For, in Vas’s invented universe, birds in an attempt to find the members of AC/DC in the confines of the galaxy have cross-bred with these super machines, giving rise to a hybrid in the purest “Jayce et les Conquérants de la lumière” style. The drawings in this series allude to the symbiosis of these super-chickens with the new model of Lonestar trucks and its commercial routes to spread the message of the new race.
In Abdul Vas’s interdisciplinary work, which is, like the artist himself, difficult to classify, the viewer may find references to artists directly linked to the history of the avant-garde movements such as James Ensor, to German expressionism, or to the more radical ideas of the Italian transvanguard. His work tackles more specifically within the Spanish context a new language that has nothing to do with the construction of a solid discourse, more or less adequate to the prevailing canons that we are used to. Vas’s work is not common. It does not comply with any standards; it is not under the aegis of any school. It has no teacher to abide by. It is genuinely contaminated. It is polluted. Bizarre. Tacky. And for this reason, since it does not comply with any formula, or any law or any control, it is one of the most attractive proposals in the context of our dull and mild artistic panorama.
