– ÁLVARO GIL

ÁLVARO GIL

Ornamento a medida

Álvaro Gil

16 November, 2013 - 08 January, 2014

“Ornamento a medida”, solo exhibition by Álvaro Gil. Installation view at Louis 21, Madrid, 2013.

In “Ornamento a medida” (customized ornament), Navarrese artist Álvaro Gil (Corella, 1986) deconstructs and reconstructs artifacts with shapes of spatial crystals, and assembles decontextualized elements in an encounter between that which is structural and that which is merely decorative. Superficial paraphernalia inspired by the world of luxury mixes with chav culture.

The title of the exhibition actually refers to the dichotomy between elite and popular culture. A creaking relationship that the artist questions through a repertoire of explosive shapes and volumes.

Álvaro Gil writes about his work: “Much of my artistic work and my research focuses on constructions based on the concept of customization and superficial transformations, from an attitude linked to DIY practices.”

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BIO

Álvaro Gil (Corella, 1986) has a degree in Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of the Basque Country. Gil’s artistic process questions the separation between high and low culture. Their constructions are based on the concept of customization, custom-made transformations, which from a DIY attitude achieve brilliant and unforeseen results. His investigation is linked to the practice of DIY (Do It Yourself) and “non-consumption”. He conceives objects that, through the incorporation of transformative casings, acquire a new value, formally precious and conceptually critical. A processual and relational attitude that, through recycling and assembly, reaches complex forms. Artifacts where the functional and the aesthetic meet in unexpected conformity.

Since 2008 he has held various individual exhibitions in galleries such as Satélite de Querétaro, México; L21 in Palma de Mallorca or Raquel Ponce in Madrid, as well as in institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Sala Rekalde in Bilbao or the Huarte Center in Navarra. His work has been seen at international art fairs such as ARCO, Madrid, Material in Mexico City or Cross Roads in London.