As is often the case in Barcelona, cool things and places are just around the corner, but you have to keep your eyes open.
A couple of weeks ago I was having Ramen with a friend, and as I came out of the restaurant, my friend went right, I went left, and happened to look at the storefront next to the Ramen shop. It looked like an art gallery, and there was a little sign that said "Instruction Manual For Nothing." in Spanish. Intrigued, I tried the door, and while it wasn't open, someone came to let me in.
The exhibition is a collaboration of two artists, Xavi Rodriguez and Blanca Vinas. Both artists use chance, randomness, and a sort of childlike play with materials to create their work. Both are also teachers.
In the exhibit, Xavi's work is a series of drawings and sketches, rough hewn, scribbled, inspired by comics. Blanca’s work is best described as playful photography that bends the rules of “good photography” to make really interesting and abstract works out of found materials, art materials, and a lot of good old fashioned experimentation.
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| Works by Xavi Rodríguez Martín at the Chiquita Room. Photograph from Chiquita Room Website. |
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Works by Xavi Rodríguez Martín at the Chiquita Room. Photograph from Chiquita Room Website.
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| Works by Blanca Vina at the Chiquita Room. Photograph from Chiquita Room Website. |
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| Works by Blanca Vina at the Chiquita Room. Photograph from Chiquita Room Website. |
As part of the exhibit, there was a manifesto of sorts (the manual for the instructions for nothing) that could have been written by members of the surrealism, Dada, or Fluxus movements. Of course it appealed directly to me! (You can download the whole pdf document from the
chiquita room website)
I had the good fortune to take a workshop with Blanca a couple of weeks later at the gallery, and got an insight into her process. For the workshop we took random slides of various artworks and buildings and landscapes, and using tape, shaped hole punches, negative scratching, and other methods of manipulating the slide, we were able to create works that used chance and controlled chaos to make works that were larger than the sum of their parts. The work was done very small, but when we projected them, the incremental changes took on lives of their own.
I have included a number of photographs of the slides below, made by myself and other participants of the workshop. (I have marked the ones I made for your reference.). I took these photographs in the dark, and didn’t edit them or change the colors of them in anyway, so they may be a little off or off kilter. I love how random chance plays a large factor in their composition and display.
The exhibit ends in just a few days, so I highly recommend checking it out if you get a chance. I am not sure what their next exhibit will be, but I for sure am planning on checking it out. This place is an interesting place.
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