THE DREAMLIKE SYMBOLISM OF ALFREDO CASTAÑEDA
The world of Alfredo Castañeda (Mexico City, Mexico, 1930 - Madrid, Spain, 2010) is also the ours one. It can be said that, from his narrative poetry and his visual poetry, the Mexican artist accessed a universe that, although its protagonist might seem alien to us, is, in truth, the description through archetypes of a reality that surrounds us. The exhibition that Casa de America in Madrid dedicates to him can boast of compiling all those themes that give shape to those themes of mystical and surrealist character, of that fantastic touch that all life has and that passes through the filter of the experiences of each one and, in this case, of the language with which Castañeda captures it.
The journey becomes a narrative that bets on the dialogue of these languages. As a poet, his ability to capture his expressions in texts is of great help to move between this literary production and the more plastic one, which he portrays masterfully through paintings and illustrations with clear satirical influences in this sort of alter ego and that keep in their background the description of these common, archetypal characters, the same ones that represent with their actions the fate of lives marked by the symbolism of our thoughts and actions.
Castañeda's work was part of an era greatly influenced by symbolism and a certain literary surrealism, elements widely recognizable in his production, but which in this exhibition are enhanced through this conversation between his languages and even with the confrontation and arrangement of his works, building an instrument of approach and deep inquiry to those dual territories that are debated between the real and the imaginary and the spiritual and the earthly.
The exhibition, which is mainly based on works from his family's private collection (nevertheless, this show is curated by Marina Castañeda, Alfredo Castañeda's granddaughter, in collaboration with Cayetana Blanco), incorporates six pieces that have never been exhibited before and that are exclusively included in this tour: Mensaje, Con los signos escapados, Consejo oriental, Instante preciso, El buen camino and El pequeño Rey. This fact, together with the installation that presides over the main room and that gathers Castañeda's manuscripts accompanied by two glasses, a bottle of wine and sketches arranged on a table, introduce, perhaps in a deeper way, the spectator into that world from which, trapped by the singularity of the language and the concepts portrayed, will not want to escape.
Alfredo Castañeda, pintor de poesías can be visited until September 7 at Casa de América, Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Spain.
Related Topics
May interest you
LATIN AMERICAN CURATORIAL PRACTICE AT PINTA Sud | ASU 2024
In the next edition of Pinta Sud | ASU 2024 -to be held from August 5 to 11, 2024 in Asuncion, Paraguay- the FORO lecture series will be one of the key spaces to delve into Latin American curatorial practice. Curated by Adriana Almada and Irene Gelfman, FORO will feature international guests such as Inés Katzenstein, Isabella Lenzi, Raphael Fonseca, among others.
LESLIE SARDINIAS. NATURE AND SEXUALITY AT CASA DE AMERICA
Casa de America joins the program of Muestra t, cultural festival of Madrid Orgullo (MADO) 2024, with the exhibition Jungle, by Cuban artist Leslie Sardinias. It is curated by Aldones Nino.
ALFREDO CASTAÑEDA, PAINTER OF POETRY
The exhibition Alfredo Castañeda, painter of poetry at Casa de América offers a journey through the Mexican artist's work from a more poetic point of view. In this way, Castañeda's paintings are shown accompanied by his poems, where a dialogue is generated between the artist's two vocations.
HAITIAN PHOTOGRAPHER WILDLINE CADET PRESENTS EXHIBITION AT CASA DE AMERICA
Haitian photographer Wildline Cadet's exhibition Take this with you at Casa de América portrays the longing for the lost home. It is curated by Nanda van den Berg, Widline Cadet and Désirée Kroep.
THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF BARCELONA HOSTS MANIFESTA 15
Manifesta, the European nomadic biennial, as it is defined, returns to Spain after past editions in San Sebastian (2004) and Murcia (2010) and will hold its 15th edition in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona from September 8 to November 24. The multidisciplinary program of actions and exhibitions will be developed around the concept of place and time, focusing, through the exhibition venues chosen in the twelve participating municipalities, on the past, present and future of this region.
HYBRID IDENTITY AND SOCIETY IN STARSKY BRINES
The powerful painting of Starsky Brines (Caracas, Venezuela, 1977) has in his most recent production the consolidation of one of the most intense expressions of the Latin American panorama. Collected under the accurate epigraph of Paisajes imposibles (Impossible Landscapes), the exhibition invites the spectator to let himself be impacted and submerged in a world as unreal and dreamlike as it is sometimes grotesque. These adjectives, more typical of the symptomatology of the society that underlies each of the Venezuelan's pictorial interpretations, seem to originate in the different angles that converge in Brines' universe.
LAS PARTITURAS DE SILVIA BÄCHLI EN EL CENTRO BOTÍN
El Centro Botín presenta Partitura, la primera exposición en España de la artista suiza Silvia Bächli.
BARBARA BRÄNDLI, FROM THE OTHER SIDE
The trajectory of Barbara Brändli (Schaffhousen, Switzerland 1932 - Caracas, Venezuela, 2011) in photography requires a conscientious analysis of several points. Without stopping at them, it is very likely to miss the reason for her approach, her vision that transcends the documentary as a simple objective or her contributions to that world that she began to consolidate in that Venezuela of welcome on her arrival in South America from her native Switzerland.
