Exhibition's view

Exhibition's view

Exhibition's view

Exhibition's view

Exhibition's view

Exhibition's view

Exhibition's view

Opening

Opening

Opening

Opening

Installation

Installation

Exhibition overview (English version)

Rituals, Gods and Sacrifices

Rituals, gods and sacrifices have always existed and/or had been created by men in all ages and cultures. In this exhibition for MC Gallery, three artists show their own version on each of these concepts through video and photographs.

Labor and effort are recurrent themes in Paolo Bertocchi’s work as references to atone for one’s body. He builds his visual poetic language based on several types of relationships: sometimes that of his personal and intimate living space in relation to the larger exterior surrounding space; sometimes on the interaction with architecture and urban spaces; sometimes on the interaction with nature and on strong physical effort inflicted on his own body, as depicted in the video Lettera dura.
The video Lettera dura, shoot by Bertocchi in San Francisco, USA, is a document of a very long walk through the woods for fourteen uninterrupted hours, a performance he developed while participating of the artist residence at the Djerassi Foundation. He carries a camera fixed to his waist, alternately documenting each foot step he takes along the road, while reading passages from Dante’s Inferno that refer to the path.

In Martin Larralde’s works, every element has been carefully chosen from real models and are displayed in the composition to reenact quasi ritual situations: Monochrome paintings where a certain male character, generally a young boy or a man, interact with different objects, often a piece of ancient furniture or animals.
The ritual is also an important part of his videos where the reproduction of nonexistent rituals emptied of any significance turns the body of the people seen on the screen (not to call them “actors”) in these automata, mere enactors of a series of instructions.
Limpida fluit is inspired on the idea of making a documentary of a series of guidelines followed by autistic characters. Corpse-rituals temporarily resuscitated in order to be registered for an impossible audience. Decorative visions persistently monochrome designed to describe senseless situations.

Sebastiano Mauri uses in his work the pictorial genre of the portrait to talk about subjects such as identity and subjectivity in rapport with universal concepts and feelings.
In the same way he explored the individual relation and the clichés about love in a previous video (The song I love to), in I believe in god the artist shows different representations of gods (portraits of gods) belonging to different times and cultures, giving at the same time the idea that anyone can have his or her personal pantheon by just buying the same figures.
Mauri created this video starting from his own personal pantheon of little gods carefully accumulated during the 10 years he lived in NY. Each god turns around on itself with a bright and colorful background, and when it reappears it is already the next deity. So it is that the artist turns this work into an exploration about the private rapport with the gods.

Gabriela Galati, curator

Technical details:

Title: LETTERA DURA
Duration: 53' 10" 00'''
Format: mini DV
Copies: 5 copies signed and certified by the artist/gallery.
Year: (c) 2005.
Artist: Paolo Bertocchi

Title: LIMPIDA FLUIT.
Duration: 26' 10".
Format: DVD.
Copies: 5 copies signed and certified by the artist/gallery.
Year: (c)2005.
Artist: Martin G. Larralde


Title: I BELIEVE IN GOD
Year: 2007
Duration: 25' 11''
Format: Color Video
Copies: Unlimited signed and certified by artist/gallery
Artist: Sebastiano Mauri

Exhibition overview (Version en Español)

Rituales, Dioses y Sacrificios

Rituales, dioses y sacrificios existieron y/o fueron creados por el hombre en todas las épocas y culturas. En esta muestra para MC Gallery, tres artistas presentan su propia versión de cada uno de estos conceptos en video y fotografia.

El trabajo, el esfuerzo, como una expiación, siempre vuelta sobre el propio cuerpo son recurrentes en la obra de Paolo Bertocchi, quien construye su poética en la relación entre su propio espacio vital, privado, cerrado, y el espacio circundante; a veces, en interacción con la arquitectura y espacios urbanos, a veces, como en Lettera dura, en relación con la naturaleza. El video Lettera dura que Bertocchi realizó en San Francisco, es la documentacion de una performance que el artista llevo a cabo durante su estadía en la residencia para artistas de la Djerassi Foundation: una larguisima caminata de catorce horas initerrumpidas por un bosque con una cámara fija en su cintura filmando alternativamente sus pasos y el camino, mientras leía todos los pasajes del Infierno de Dante en los cuales se habla del camino.

En la obra de Martin Larralde cada elemento ha sido cuidadosamente elegido de modelos reales y dispuestos en la composición en una suerte de representacion de situaciones quasi rituales: pinturas monocromas donde un personaje, generalmente un niño o un hombre, interactúa con distintos objetos, generalmente muebles antiguos o animales.
El ritual también es una parte importante en sus videos, en los cuales la reproduccion de rituales inexistentes vacíos de toda significacion convierten el cuerpo de la gente en la pantalla (para no llamarlos “actores”) en estos automatas, meros reproductores de una serie de instrucciones.
Limpida fluit fue inspirado por la idea de documentar una serie de consignas seguidas por personajes autistas. Rituales muertos resucitados para ser registrados para un auditorio imposible. Visiones decorativas, persistentemente monocromos diseñados para describir situaciones sin sentido.

Trabajando en diversos soportes como pintura, video y fotografía, Sebastiano Mauri emplea en su obra el genero pictórico del retrato para hablar tratar temas como la identidad y la subjetividad en relación a conceptos y sentimientos universales. Así como en un video anterior (The song I love to) Mauri exploraba tanto la relación individual como los cliches en relación al amor, en I believe in god el artista muestra distintas representaciones de dioses (retratos de dioses) pertenecientes a distintas épocas y culturas, dejando implícita también la idea de que todos pueden tener su panteón personal con solo adquirir figuras como estas. Mauri creo este video a partir de su propio panteón personal de pequeños dioses cuidadosamente acumulados durante sus 10 años de residencia en NY. Cada pequeña deidad gira sobre un fondo brillante, y al volver a dar la cara a la cámara ya es la deidad siguiente. Es así que el artista convierte esta obra en una exploración de la relación privada con la divinidad.

Gabriela Galati, curadora

Informacion tecnica de las obras:

Title: LETTERA DURA
Duration: 53' 10" 00'''
Format: mini DV
Copies: 5 copies signed and certified by the artist/gallery.
Year: (c) 2005.
Artist: Paolo Bertocchi

Title: LIMPIDA FLUIT.
Duration: 26' 10".
Format: DVD.
Copies: 5 copies signed and certified by the artist/gallery.
Year: (c)2005.
Artist: Martin G. Larralde.

Title: I BELIEVE IN GOD
Year: 2007
Duration: 25' 11''
Format: Color Video
Copies: Unlimited edition, signed and certified by artist/gallery
Artist: Sebastiano Mauri

still frame 6 location 00:13:44:18, Paolo Bertocchi, 2007

still frame 11 location 00:21:35:07, Paolo Bertocchi, 2007

AFRICAN IDOL, Sebastiano Mauri, 2007

SEATED BUDDAH, Sebastiano Mauri, 2007

LIMPIDA FLUIT, Martin Larralde, 2007

LIMPIDA FLUIT, Martin Larralde, 2007

Opening on December 1st., 6-9 PM

Rituals, gods and sacrifices

Paolo Bertocchi, Martin Larralde, Sebastiano Mauri

Curator: Gabriela Galati

December 1st -15th, 2007
Gallery MC
549 west 52nd Street, 8th floor
New York, NY,10019