Juan Sili\u00f3 Gallery presents the second exhibition of the artist Bel\u00e9n Rodr\u00edguez in the gallery. “I danced myself out of the womb” can be interpreted as an epilogue to the work she has been doing for the last year, whose intention was to acquire and protect a forest in Cantabria. To the fabrics dyed with natural elements from the forest – oak, eucalyptus, chestnut, birch, walnut or laurel – that delicately braid the frames, are added new forms that reflect the life that can now remain wild and free in it. While its approach has always been that of a guardian portraying it, it seems that, once acquired, it has become part of the artist. The forest stands before her as the element through which to confront her own experiences, as the place where she can reconnect with instinct and natural thought with which to understand the world.<\/p>\n
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As an introduction to the exhibition we are presenting some extracts from the text \u201cAn Art Pulsing With the Life of Earth. On the work of Bel\u00e9n Rodr\u00edguez\u201d written by Chus Mart\u00ednez for the Catalogue \u201cSal met\u00e1lica\u201d, Museo Patio Herreriano, Valladolid 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would a painting say to a forest? How would a sculpture relate to the trunk of a tree, to the adaptive body of an ivy? What does composition mean in the context of a mountain range or a river basin? Western art has been depic- ting those elements as subjects but has never experience nature as its context. Learning to be there is not easy task. Some decades ago this excessive would have been perceived as nostalgic or even escapist. Now, however, it is interpre- ted as necessary, it is an act of responsibility that the artist enacts in the name not only of herself, but in the collective consciousness that this turn-to-nature is a turn-to equality and a different social.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c[…] We too often address sustainability in our new relation with the production and destruction of materials. […] However, the quest in Bel\u00e9n Rodriguez\u2019s work is not to find good materials, but materials that transfer their wisdom of nature, their organic intelligence to the realm of art. […] Color is not a substance applied in the surface of a textile, canvas or cotton. Color is seen like blood, a fluid ele- ment that not only irrigates all the organs of a genre but also carries information with it. This information is central to the way we will interpret time, permanence and the relations that are established inside and outside an artwork. \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c[…] There is, therefore, in the whole of Belen Rodriguez practice a philosophy: through nearness and gentleness we may transform very little but this very little will create a trust and this bond will serve as a language to say things differently, to name a world in peace with itself. Nearness and peace are primordial values in her work. These values are not spectacular.<\/p>\n
War is spectacular. Destruction is spectacular. Cynicism is spectacular. Hubris is spectacular.
\nHer work serves no spectacle. It serves a force that trust in our will to remain together in peace. It seems simple but pacifism lost its ground. From media to capitalism, clash and clashing seems the only remaining way of relating. We are facing problems, limits, difficulties nonstop. No one seems preoccupied in designing contexts where life occurs within the parameters of joy. Joy is not the same as happiness. It is a collectively supported experience based on the cer- tainty that life will be continued, that we are capable of a certain development and fulfillment. The practice of Belen Rodriguez supports this trust in peaceful life. Therefore, it would be wrong to describe her understanding of art as ecolo- gical or empathic with nature. Both these traits are there, not as mere gestural impulses but as a true commitment to a different sensing of the living worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Bel\u00e9n Rodr\u00edguez (Valladolid, 1981) is currently working on a project suppor- ted by Fundaci\u00f3n Marcelino Botin grants. In 2023 she has opened her solo exhibition \u201cSal met\u00e1lica\u201d at the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid and participated at the group exhibition \u201c\u00a1Doblad mis amores!\u201d curated by Chus Mart\u00ednez in Collegium, Ar\u00e9valo.\u00a0Her works has been shown in exhibitions in institutions and museums such as TBA21, CA2M, Tabacalera, Matadero and Casa Encendida in Madrid, Can Felipa in Barcelona, CCA Kunsthalle and Casal Solleric in Mallorca, Korea Kulturhausand das weisse Haus, Wien, Mogosoaia Cultural Center in Bucarest, Yokohama Creative City Center in Yokohama among others. It is also represented in collections such as TBA21, La Caixa, CA2M, among others.<\/p>\n
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September, 14 \u2013 November, 11 \u00a02023<\/p>\n
Opening Thursday September, 14. 12am \u00a0– 10 pm.<\/p>\n
APERTURA MADRID<\/p>\n
Friday, 15 and Saturday, 16: 11am – 8pm<\/p>\n
Sunday, 17. 11am – 2pm.<\/p>\n
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Bel\u00e9n Rodr\u00edguez Galer\u00eda Juan Sili\u00f3 Tuesday \u2013 Friday, Saturday,
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\nDr. Fourquet, 20, 28012. Madrid.<\/p>\n
\n11am \u2013 7pm.<\/p>\n
\n11am \u2013 12pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9163,"template":"","expos_categories":[132,49],"class_list":["post-9149","exposiciones","type-exposiciones","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","expos_categories-2023-en","expos_categories-madrid-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n