For her third solo exhibition at Murray Guy, Patricia Esquivias presents 111-119 Generalísimo/Castellana, a video and installation that navigates through a series of tenuous coincidences surrounding a block of five buildings erected in Madrid in the late 1950's on what was Avenida del Generalísimo (after Franco) and was later renamed Paseo de la Castellana.
The exhibition is shaped by a continually expanding narrative of interconnections made by the artist, linking biographical elements and memories to inventions and archive material. Originally ceramic murals, visible from street level, were created for each of the balconies in the buildings. Each mural depicted a different European city in order "to help spread the mood that Spain was a more open and international country" during the closed and repressive regime of Francisco Franco. In 111-119 Generalísimo/Castellana, Esquivias meanders through disparate testimonies of the remodeling of the buildings' interior and exterior. Over time many of the murals were either removed or the balcony was enclosed. Central to the story is Esquivias herself. Through performative and processual narration she investigates the circumstances of the buildings' architect, Miguel Artíñano, his relationship to the muralists, and the mythologies that have been handed down from generation to generation.
In the video Esquivias sings the chorus of two popular songs that are about the Puerta de Alcalá, which is illustrated on a recently discarded mural that she salvaged. She also collected mosaics from one apartment and worked with jeweler Marc Monzó to make pieces to "wear the building". The jewelry is on display in the gallery along with various materials seen in the video including: contemporary photographs of the remaining murals, the Artíñano family tree, additional photographs of some of the individuals implicated within the narrative, and comprehensive texts written by Esquivias about each of these elements.
Esquivias' tangential investigation of Miguel Artíñano brought upon a complimentary publication, The World According to Patricia Esquivias was recently published by The Office, Berlin, in collaboration with Akademie Schloss Solitude, which presents photographs and drawings of distinctive work by the architect Fernando Garrido.
Patricia Esquivias (b. 1979) lives and works in Madrid, Spain. Recently she had solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Winterthur, Switzerland and at MARCO, Vigo, Spain. In 2011, she was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and in 2009 at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis. She has been included in numerous group shows including Before Our Eyes: Other Cartographies of the Rif, MACBA, Barcelona (2014), Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear, Tate Modern, London (2012), Personal Histories, MOCAD, Detroit, The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, New Museum, New York (2009), Report on Probability, Kunsthalle Basel (2009), and When Things Cast No Shadow - The 5th Berlin Biennial (2008). In 2007, she was awarded the Illy Present-Future Award at Artissima, Turin.
111-119 Generalísimo/Castellana was originally commissioned by Frieze Film in 2012.
Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm. For more information or images, contact Murray Guy at +1-212-463-7372 or info@murrayguy.com.
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