Andres Sobrino at the Centro Cultural Recoleta, Interview

The first time I saw a book and read something that made Andres Sobrino was in a now-defunct magazine called Urban Connection, publishing the Lucky Strike cigarette brand around 2001 or 2002. Since that time, is one of the artists who identify with the time I lived.

Perhaps because his work is very distinctive and recognizable even to a person who does not know too much about art, and therefore I have the feeling of having crossed exhibitions, publications and talks. Or maybe it belongs to a generation related to Palermo, to gallery Braga Menéndez, this scene painted white so typical of the after-crisis Argentina.

Whatever the reason, his work has always interested me, but I guess I never understood this in all its complexity. Is that the lines and color planes that make his paintings are very simple at first glance, but with a bit of context highly provocative.

Describe your work Florencia Braga Menéndez:

“Sobrino geometric abstraction takes to do anything with it, support the use of an operation conceptual poetry, a transaction processing and semantic flow redirection”.

Maria Gainza wrote in a note page 12 For some years:

“Sobrino speaks what comes to vomit, comments at a work of such geometric rigor startles us [...]. Is that the categories of Sobrino always muddy, systems and theories suggest where there are none, basically because the artist is not interested. And it is through private antiexpresividad, where something ends expressing [...]“.

Finally, Sobrino describes his work as ‘vibrant silence’ and this is probably the definition most interesting about his paintings. A definition that starts up the contradiction between the explicit and hidden color.

In order to ask where is, what makes reflection of what happened and where their work will, Sobrino contacted for an interview. Their responses add to the previous findings and give more background and context to visit the individual shows on their production of recent years (obviously, no title) is made up 1 March at the Recoleta Cultural Centre.

BA Inspiration (BAI): What is your exhibition at the Centro Cultural Recoleta?
Andres Sobrino (AS): The show is a kind of way about my work in recent years, but it is a retrospective (basically, because most are recent works). It shows the place from where I decided to look at the abstraction, geometry and color, is a kind of homage to the pioneers of geometric abstraction and a sunset tour that chose to follow as the continuation of the legacy.

BAI: How do you believe that your work evolved since your first exhibitions 2000 until now?, What is your quest at this time and what changed since you began to dedicate to art?
AS: The work changed not only for their own development, but because the environment changes and the vision of the art changes. But, regardless of the philosophical aspects of art, I feel that my work was becoming a way on these changes and the new discourses that emerge from the art. It is challenging the fact that geometric abstraction to reinvent, just a redefinition of the time when, known, everything is done. And that's where, think, I have to take a leading role.

With regard to the specifics of the question, actually prefer to talk more in terms of change that evolution, perhaps because they know the direction in which this is all about. As to the meaning or content of my work, many elements have been added: from the constructive and formal to the spiritual and rational. Today I can feel that there is a body of work that grew in every aspect, that beats and roars. I feel his breath on the nape.

BAI: In an interview you described your work as “vibrant silence”. Why?, Are you aware the idea of ​​creating ‘silencios’?, Why the choice of color to make it?
AS: Good, that's almost a contradiction in terms, and it is these very contradictions that create new principles. But surely talking about a balance that is always about to break, reassured by stability and restless at the same time. In this sense, stills have been struggling with color, who wants to get out of the plane, vibrates, and the same silence also fight against the structure and how that support the constructive elements of the work.

I do not think this is conscious, is rather intuitive, and the color is actually one element because they use the simplest way, as it comes from the can, as all the operations that meet in my work, with minimal alterations. Simple mechanics.

BAI: You were part of a group of artists who had enough recognition from crisis, number of nucleated and other galleries Braga Menéndez. Do you feel part of a ‘generation’ with distinguishing marks?, then, What are these signs?
AS: It's a bit difficult to see oneself in perspective and as part of a generation, I think even that is defining possible generation. But I feel very close to a group of artists who've seen it grow, although the contexts and the successive crises, whom I admire, respect and follow very closely. Special peculiarities: a special ability to survive, time will tell what else.

BAI: During the last years emerged numerous contemporary art galleries and expanded quite Argentina, How do you see the scene of Buenos Aires at this time?, Which do you consider the proposals and most interesting names?
AS: Buenos Aires is a favorable setting and is for more, we only need the right policies and be more federal, is missing in bad In cultural with the inside and outside. I think it's a good time for the arts, but today I prefer to think more in terms of scenario, situation in which things are arranged, that the proposals and names in particular. There is much to see, but I want to witness the moment when everything that is emerging out once and for all.

BAI: Do you live in Buenos Aires?, What is your favorite part of the City and why?
AS: Already 22 years in Buenos Aires, of 41 I have and I were born in Tucumán. I have my heart in Palermo, but I like the city: streets, walls, cables, Greens, neighborhoods…

Links:
Andres Sobrino
Nephew in the Recoleta Cultural Centre
Braga Menéndez Gallery nephew
Sobrino speaks about one of his influences, Blinky Palermo