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Wilfredo Prieto & Ignacio Uriarte: I Am Making Art
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Published: July 29 2009

Wilfredo Prieto “Untitled (White library)” (2004-2006); White books, shelves, tables and chairs. View of the installation at 1st ingapore Biennale. Courtesy NoguerasBlanchard, Barcelona and Taka Ishii Gallery Collection of Museum of Old and New, Tasmania copy right(c) Wilfredo Prieto

Ignacio Uriarte “Xonox scribbling” (2008); Technical fibre-tip pen on paper, 98 pieces, 40 x 30 cm each Courtesy NoguerasBlanchard, Barcelona and Taka Ishii Gallery copy right(c) Ignacio Uriarte

Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to announce the debut exhibition in Japan of the conceptual artists Wilfredo Prieto and Ignacio Uriarte. The show is entitled “I Am Making Art” referring to John Baldessari‟s 1971 film piece. With irony and humour Prieto moves from words into “reality” using simple elements from daily life ultimately presenting a quiet yet strong message full of impact. His works often take the form of site-specific installations. For example, “Optical Art”, 1999 in which he painted ripened mangoes green so that they remained in a state of perpetuity. “Untitled (White library)”, 2004-2006, in which Prieto subtituted blank white paper for books suggesting that silence is worth as much if not more than a thousand words. “Scale of values”, 2001 in which Prieto used plastic cups filled with rum, beer, wine, softdrink and water to visually literalize a scale of value. And “Yes/No”, 2002 in which the simple movement of portable fans, up-and –down, side-to-side functions as an understated yet understandable language. Wilfredo Prieto was born in 1978 in Sancti-Spiritus, Cuba and is based in Barcelona, Spain. He has exhibited in many solo exhibitions, including the S.M.A.K. Ghent (2008), Kadist Art Foundation, Paris (2006), MUSAC, Leon (2005) and group shows, P.S.1 MOMA, New York (2008), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2008), 52nd Venice Biennale Italo-Latinamerican Pavillion, Venice (2007), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2005) among others.He was the recipient of the Cartier Award at the Frieze Art Fair (2008).

My starting point is the little creative moments within office-routines, which mostly have ridiculously small ‘artistic’ aspect to them.
- Ignacio Uriarte

Some of Uriarte‟s representative works include “Envelope”, 2003 in which an inside out envelope is installed on the wall, “A line up and down and a A-4 sheet”, 2004 in which 21 A-4 sheets are folded at increasing heights, each one 1.2 cm higher than the previous and 21 A-4 sheets are folded at decreasing heights, each one 1.2 cm lower than the previous. Each group is fixed onto an opposing wall as a sequence with a central line made of folds crossing all pages. “vorwärts rückwärts”, 2005 is a video piece in which the words typed by a typewriter which appear on the screen mean‘forward’(vorwärts) and ‘backwards’(rückwärts), and “From 6h to 8b”, 2007, a monochrome drawing made with each of the Castell 9000 series pencils, fifteen in total, covering a full greyscale with every possible pencil lead hardness from 6h to 8b. Ignacio Uriarte born (1972) and raised in Krefeld, Germany. From 1992 to 1995 he studied Business Administration in Madrid and Mannheim and subsequently worked for corporations such as Siemens, Canon, Interlub and Agilent Technologies in Germany, Spain and Mexico. He studied audiovisual arts in Guadalajara, Mexico (1998 to 2001) and quit his last serious job in November 2003, dedicating himself since then to what he calls 'office art'. From 2004 to 2006 he took part in an artist residency program at Hangar Barcelona. Since 2007 he lives and works in Berlin. Selection of recent museum solo exhibitions include CGAC, Santiago de Compostela (2007), Laboratorio 987, MUSAC, Leon (2008) and Centro Huarte deArte Contemporáneo, Pamplona (2008). * The text provided by Taka Ishii Gallery.

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Last Updated on July 31 2009
 

Editor's Note by Satoshi Koganezawa

The work of Wilfredo Prieto exhibited in the center of the hall, is one in which the edges of an electric extension cord are joined to make a circle. The work of Ignacio Uriarte projected onto the wall by an unusual lantern, is produced by combining ballpoints and producing the shape of a Roman numeral. These works, which use everyday things, are extremely light and smart. The common point of the two artists is their focus on sublimating the materials to an art work. Therefore, it is simple but also smartly elegant.


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