2009 Alejandro Corujeira Marlborough Chelsea

alejandro corujeira

Marlborough Chelsea

alejandro corujeira The Accessible, Dressed in Salts November 19 - December 19

Marlborough Chelsea 545 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001 tel: 212 463 8634 • fax: 212 463 9658 www.marlboroughchelsea.com

A Conversation with Alejandro Corujeira KEVIN POWER

“All things seem mention of themselves “And the names which stem from them branch out to other referents.

La casa elevada

[ 2007, watercolour on paper, on wood, 26,5 x 19,5 cm ]

“Hugely, spring exists again.” ( j o h n a s h b e r y )

KEVIN POWER:

What place is left for a poetic lyricism or a

constituting an interaction, as it were, between stasis and

spiritual exploration in the language of abstraction? Do you

movement. Does Pound’s remark interest you in any way as

feel in any way that abstraction as a pictoric language may

far as your painting is concerned?

well have momentarily exhausted many of its highly

A.C.:

I find Pound’s remark

privileged possibilities? Where do you see new openings in

very interesting. It’s an incisive insight and helps us to

this privileged 20th century discourse?

understand that there is no line in isolation, frozen in a

ALEJANDRO CORUJEIRA:

Your question

specific moment. Drawing is writing in just the way that

brings to mind a poem by Paul Celan, called The Guest:

Pound puts it. I am interested in anything related to writing

“Long before evening / he who traded regards with the dark

along the lines of his image. There is an emotional charge

sweeps in. / Long before day / he awakes / and kindles a

and a statement contained in drawing letters, even when the

dream before leaving, / a dream of resonant steps: / you hear

drawing is automatic and hurried, result of both the way in

him stride through the distance / and hurl your soul after it.”

which, whoever is writing, structures their drawing and

I feel that abstraction has been the guest in the house of the

what they want to express in it. So it seems to make more

20th century and kindled a dream of resonant steps. It is true

sense to read ideas, actions, or subjects in movement than to

that its arrival in the recent history of the West was closely

separate out the words in each sentence and then put them

linked to the development of an exclusively plastic language

back together in the hope of forming a narrative. How can

and its capacity to say was questioned. But little by little,

you describe the circle that vibrates and expands in the water,

within this first abstraction, spaces opened up for other

provoked by a tiny drop in its fall onto the surface?

interests. Now it has become so broad that it can embrace

A continuous circular line says it clearly. I think that this

approaches or procedures coming from other disciplines. I am

image of expansion, with a rhythm that is almost like

thinking of number, but also random processes and insistent,

breathing, is at the core of these latest paintings... a subtle

meticulous repetition, inviting that involuntary accident to

movement that seems never to stop... I have always taken

slip in. The images you see can provoke a stimulus to

special notice of the works of artists whose abstraction took

meditation. On beginning a painting, the relationship with its

them to the very boundary of writing. I am thinking of Mark

material implies attention prior to knowing the image,

Tobey, H. Michaux, the works from Brice Marden’s Cold

although we do not know if said image already existed in a

Mountain series, inspired by the calligraphy of a Chinese

deep deposit within our memory. I think that in abstraction,

poet, or C. Nancarrow’s piano pieces, with almost mechanical

there is space for the paths that have been opened by poetry,

writing. These readings, from different times and different

music, science, meditation, number, memory, dreams, or the

cultures, and the relationships between them, weave a

simple drive to find an unprecedented image.

narrative line through the history of art that is neither strictly nor naturally chronological. That was what Aby

K.P.:

In Pound’s book on Fenollosa, On the Chinese written

Warburg wanted to make explicit in his essays. Now come to

Character as a Medium for Poetry, he quotes this passage from

mind V. Celmin’s ever present night skies, entering into a

Fenollosa directly: “A true noun, an isolated thing, doesn’t

dialogue with the celestography that Strindberg had

exist in nature. Things are only terminal points, or rather

captured nearly a century before.

meeting points of action, actions seen at a stroke, I know you read poetry. Could you talk about some

snapshots. The same goes for a pure verb, an abstract

K.P.:

movement. The eye sees the noun and the verb as a unity:

of your interests and what it is that moves you? Image?

the things in movement, the movement within the things,

Language?

it’s in this way that the Chinese conception tends to

A.C.:

I vitally feel poetry’s place as a space in which

represent them.” Your work often proposes a closure of a

words have the possibility of not failing. I find an extreme

framed element whilst the rest around is the action of line,

attitude in poets, a way of delving into life, in the deep sense

3

of the word, a special way of being able to turn something

shudders of contact and fusion brought with them thoughts

unexpected into something absolutely necessary, an ability to

and emotions that went way beyond questions of representing

accept the destiny of the word. R. Juarroz stated that every

the world or depicting one of its symbolic orders. Palazuelo

life, if it is lived deeply, can lead to poetry. Perhaps I recognize

said that “once abstraction has been invented there is no going

an ultimate space in poetry, which I yearn to attain in

back.” The question then becomes how to proceed and, above

painting, where the poet is aware of everything that is

all, in what direction and with what intention. What roles can

happening and constantly brings it face to face with his own

abstraction effectively occupy?

inner life, reaching a space in which it is hard to perceive the

A.C.:

I imagine he was referring to

limits between inside and outside, where the ego is diluted

the way abstraction emerged on the scene as the pictoric

and gives way to “the other”. In poetry, I find a unique way of

language in the first half of the 20th century, in modern

reaching revelations that would be hard to get through any

Western society. And once its postulates have been accepted,

other languages. There are artists who brush upon similar

it is hard for contemporary art to do without them. In that

attitudes with their work. I am thinking of Richard Tuttle.

sense, abstraction opened up a world, installed a new planet

Poetry carries within itself that vitality that makes it possible

in our mental constellation and that was when we realized

to open up channels of understanding for those who come

that this planet had been there since the beginning of our

into contact with it. I am not interested in language for

system. That’s why I don’t feel that abstraction was a 20th-

language’s sake. I am interested in how a poet, using the

century invention. We can find abstract manifestations in

same vocabulary that we do, can arrive at such revelations.

different cultures and throughout the ages. This brings to my

How a poet comes upon those same words that we have

mind an exhibition showing anonymous drawings, 17th-

pronounced so many times, but never in that way, with that

century tantras from Rajasthan, India, alongside some

meaning. I believe words used this way become a gift, and the

drawings by Agnes Martin, where there was an amazing

reader has to be open to joining in the celebration. It is this

kinship. J. Albers’ drawing when he discovered the ground-

invitation that I find captivating.

plan of the pyramid constructions on Mount Alban in Mexico, or Torres Garcia’s research into pre-Columbine

K.P.:

Palazuelo, one of the most significant abstract painters

cultures, also speak to us of that need to communicate in the

in recent Spanish history, said that the “Line thinks”. What

abstract. I think abstraction allows us to enter into a dialogue

do you feeel about that?

with other moments, both past and future. The idea of

A.C.:

The line accompanies it even invites

reaching forms that allow the observer to come out of

whoever is making it to modify their thinking. There is a very

himself, to move towards “the other”, is not, I believe, a

direct relationship between line and vision. In the broadest

recent conquest. Perhaps now, though, there is a more

sense, one could say that the “line feels”. I can perceive that in

widespread awareness of how that works.

Agnes Martin’s works. I dedicate a small suite in this What is the role of abstraction today? Can we still react

exhibition to her, called A Garden for Agnes. I don’t know

K.P.:

exactly in what context Palazuelo made that statement about

with a sense of surprise before its affirmations?. Is your work

the line. I think that his rich world of thought tempted him

about ideas or is more a kind of stance to reality, a way of

to express himself at times with intriguing certainties.

living in the world?

A.C.:

K.P.:

Abstraction was of course always present as a latent

Today, abstraction continues to pose

questions close to philosophy and thus goes on contributing

experience in the world before it was painted. Look carefully at

to our understanding of the world. It is still linked to

any small segment of a Renaissance canvas to sense how the

generative energies. For me, abstraction, at times, seems to be

artists knew what was happening when one zone linked itself

located between sleeping and waking, a privileged place to

to another or brushed itself up against another. These

inspire vision, our gaze towards “the other”. It penetrates into

4

[ 2009, acrylic, watercolour and graphite on canvas, on cardboard, 23,5 x 18,5cm each one ]

Suite: un jardín para Agnes

those almost inaccessible nooks in our consciousness. I feel

call the soul? Or do such beliefs and possibilities belong

that it is in the memory of our species. It moves slowly and

essentially to a humanist tradition that is itself now massively

speaks to us of the cellular codes for metamorphosis. In my

under question? It seems highly probable that these forms

work, I feel that there are forms that find their sleep and

today might come from the discoveries of science, from what

remain there until a later moment when they might again

we have never seen until recently, from what is being revealed

awake. The lack of certainty about them is at the basis of their

under the colour-microscope, through computer possibilities

formation and there is a certain bemusement in the face of a

that can endlessly alter the shape of the image, through the

new repertoire. After a while, I begin to understand how I

advances in neurology and biochemistry, or through such

have shifted from some things to other things, but at the

fields as chaos theory. In other words, what we might expect

beginning, my feeling is that of something new, a revelation,

as abstract images are parallels between the musings of the

and with it comes a certain sense of well-being, even

creative spirit and those of scientific investigation. Does the highly imaginative world of contemporary science have a place in your work and thinking?

A.C.:

I believe that science, in the

broadest sense of the term, occupies a preferential place in awakening our consciousness. It stimulates our vision of the world in a vital way. I feel that scientific research into certain phenomena is very incisive and at times is spearheading the images that we are currently offering as our understanding of reality. I have no scientific background and I do not use systematic models, but I force my intuition in the hope of reaching new images. And that is where a big question arises.

Where do images come from? When I look at Santiago Ramón psychological well-being. In a way, I find that I am activating a

y Cajal’s drawings of his observations through the microscope,

contemplative attitude within myself, an attitude of

I am amazed at his interpretation of what he was seeing and

meditation upon these new forms. I can perceive this best in

the relationship between his thought processes and what his

my latest work, where the centrality begins to be more

eyes actually perceived. I think that his thinking drove his way

marked, and that leads to a greater tranquility than in earlier

of looking; his eyes were led to these images by his way of

series. In this sense, I interpret my painting as a way of being

interpreting the world. In my case, with images I seem to find

in this world, a way of establishing mechanisms to

myself in a different place. It is the images that drive my

comprehend reality, rather than painting as a carrier of ideas.

thinking... Coming back to your question, it is stimulating to see how science has gradually arrived at concepts that were

K.P.:

Back early in the 20th century it could be argued

already enunciated in ancient Oriental traditions. This is what

that new and strange forms appeared because they were

most interests me about science; that it seems to arrive from

necessary to express a spiritual content, to capture what

elsewhere. Sincerely, I believe that abstraction continues to

Apollinaire called the “spirit of the times”. These new forms,

enable us to give expression to deep needs, whether they be

even if less strange, were still being discovered up until the

spiritual, or the need to enquire in order to understand reality,

70s. New forms may still be possible and in all probability

or even the ironic vision of a society where the sense of

they will be articulated by cultures other than our own, yet it

contemplation has largely been lost. I do not think that science

is also abundantly clear that new arrangements of forms

and the images that it offers us have displaced the postulates of

certainly are manifesting themselves. But do these forms

abstract art. Rather, it has joined forces. And in this sense, I

come from inner needs? Do they come from what we loosely

embrace its arrival in the world of images.

5

K.P.:

We have lived from the fifties onwards a wave of

watershed. There, abstraction was strengthened by the lack of

formalist criticism. I am thinking of Greenberg’s declared

a tradition of contemporary art with which the continent

and aggressive espousal of formal achievement that endlessly

could identify. (I speak of the continent as a whole, not just

boosted the work of Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian or

North America). This left them free to look back at the past

Matisse, and later the continuation of these efforts through

and begin to develop a family constellation without the

the work of the Abstract Expressionists, dismissing all legible

traumatic rupture entailed in European abstraction...

content in abstraction as superfluous. It is not my intention

America clearly provided the right physical and historic space

to criticize the work of this extraordinary critic but certainly

for this adventure to begin. That time was marked by the

to question what appears as a highly limited agenda. When

yearning for freedom that all artists shared, and answers began

Greenberg tells Olitski, with such immense rhetorical

to arrive for their questioning. These answers later became

confidence, to crop the canvas or to heighten a colour, and

formal options, a kind of new artistic alphabet that arose from

justifies his assertions solely on the grounds of experience, of

their endeavor to value things other than the image, things

a life devoted to viewing pictures, can we meekly accept his

having to do with the processes that could channel the issues

judgment? Harold Rosenberg, the other critic of the period,

being tackled. The new art modes that emerged continue to be

said that the turning point for Abstract Expressionism

valid and now draw on everything arriving from the frontiers

occurred when its artists abandoned the idea of art and

of art or even outside it... I must also mention the value I see in

“decided to paint ... just to PAINT. The gesture on the canvas

the way later artists revised this initial American abstraction; a

was a gesture of liberation, from value – political, aesthetic

language that was clearly affected at birth by the need to affirm

moral.” He insists that. “what was to go on the canvas was not

itself, and which subsequent generations had a more analytical

a picture but an event.” And none of us would dispute that

way of looking at. Here, another question arises: How is it that a

Pollock, de Kooning, and Kline produced these events! But

movement that emerged with an overwhelming vocation to

has this process of a discovery of a signature become little

break away, has given us a language that allows for this

more than a recipe for an endless sequel of known and

constant, ongoing adaptation?

assimilated events where little is at risk.

A.C.:

It seems as if at a

K.P.:

Abstraction has been attached to world of the spirit, to

specific point in the 20th century, a series of conditions came

mystical beliefs. One of the key points of Palazuelo’s work is

together so that a wide-ranging group of artists could give a

the way in which he fuses mystical beliefs with mathematics,

common response to social concerns, and also to spiritual

with fractal theory, with the occult, with cross-cultural

questions. These concerns found in the language of art an

readings of the history of number. He studied the writings of

efficient channel of response. Here, I would like to discuss a

Bohme who sought to identify the forces and conflicts that lie

subject that I am working on now, which you might call “the

beneath all human existence, taking what he found of use

exile of the avant-garde movements”. When I think in terms

over to his own sense of systems and structures. We can all

of Western painting, I always find the origin of abstraction on

feel moved when Bohme writes: “The eternal centre and the

the European continent, during an inter-war period that was

Birth of Life [...] are everywhere. Trace a circle no larger than a

especially painful in the continent’s history. However, I feel

dot the whole birth of Eternal Nature is therein contained.”

that abstraction begins to develop and bear real fruit once in

Such assertions imply the search for the underlying life-

exile. I wonder about the strength of this avant-garde to move

form, the Ur-form, and of course, an implicit belief in the fact

and to find the right place for its development. In its origins

that such a form exists. Do you see your work as a quest not

and in its exile, abstraction showed itself to be a way for

only inside but also outside yourself?

development in spiritual terms but also I believe it turned out

A.C.:

What I receive from outside

to be a path linked to the history of melancholy. If we had to

feeds into my painting. I do not recognize this inner

map out its voyage, we could see its arrival in America as a

contemplation without “the other”. Everything that concerns

6

me emotionally or intellectually, that stimulates me, surprises

with his way of painting abstract paintings. However, it is

me, delights me or upsets me, seems to store itself deep in the

evident that in his Atlas (the extensive series of portraits) he

back of my eyes from where, at some later time, images are

wanted to come closer to Aby Warburg’s idea and in this way

driven forth. I am not certain how this deposit works. Indeed,

investigate the images, where they come from, their

I receive some subjects as if they were traveling through time,

morphological capacity, what they evoke. I think that for

as if they had been waiting for the moment to manifest

Richter, abstraction also became an image into which he

themselves in me, almost as if they were some kind of

could delve and he found a certain effectiveness in his way of

remembered knowledge that acts while I am working in the

executing his works. But I do not find that his works are

studio: a sky which suddenly clears and allows you to see what

really questioning abstraction. Rather, they take another step

has become vital in order to go on. But other times, the

forward towards the encounter of the images. Sometime after

images, or the variations on them, or the processes that they

those paintings, he returned to figuration, incorporating the way of painting that he had developed in his abstract work.

Suite: un jardín para Agnes

He even applied it to his photography. The interpolation of his subjects reaffirms me in the belief that his main concern is with the image that he carries to the limits of painting, and not with abstraction. Thus his concern about the idea of beauty. For me, beauty does not lie in the image that comes out, although this could be a vehicle for accessing it. There is an awakening to beauty in the moments when we manage to shift our gaze or our consciousness; and images can help us to do this. Our dealings with the idea of beauty are central to art, both for the artist and those who observe it. It is the process of meditation, of attention to a work that can carry us trigger, seem to obey to a conscious attempt to find a way into

to an encounter with beauty. Being attentive to its pulsations

this deposit and act within, like a kind of meditative aid.

is a crucial part of the process of making art.

Painting keeps me linked to the outside through its own physical states. Even if it is a drawing of one centimeter or the

K.P.:

thought of such a drawing, it is no longer my body. The first

are to come close to what they hold. To study a black painting

stroke is already a breeze out there in the world.

by Ad Reinhardt involves a process similar to Zen meditation

Contemporary works often make demands on us if we

– a deceptively simple affair that “consists only in watching Richter has shown us that abstraction is simply a code

everything that is happening, including your own thoughts

that can be practised automatically and whose results can be

and your breathing.” Granting one’s vision sufficient time to

gauged beforehand. Thus if the artist is seeking a semblance of

perceive the resonant hues and shades in a painting by

depth he might well be drawn to using it. Nevertheless, the

Reinhardt is equivalent to the assumption of a meditative

purely mechanical production of Richter’s abstractions

process. In other words, the work imposes its own measures

continues to nag at us and beg the question about the role of

of time and rapprochement. We need to become involved and

the abstract. Does it still have a place or is it simply a matter of

when we do the painting seems to yield its essence all at once,

endless, increasingly banal, regurgitations of an overworked

recalling the comment of an Indian musician: “All music is in

and much abused code? Yet despite the procedures Richter is

the understanding of one note.” Tour work is very much a

much concerned with the idea of beauty. What role does this

process of growth and variations on a theme. Do you think in

concept have for you?

terms of series? Do you return consciously to pictorial

K.P.:

A.C.:

Richter seems to question abstraction

problems that were left hanging in the air? Which works

7

seem to you to have been key as openings for some kind of

spirituality, in a serious sense, within abstract painting.

continuity?

Marden found himself moved by calligraphy and began this

A.C.:

When I work, I think of a structure of

series almost writing and paying special attention to the space

constellations. Perhaps I can put it like this: there are large

where he could develop these calligraphies. He emphatically

groups that develop over time, which on many occasions

sought the right measure for each painting and the coloring

coincide and develop in parallel at the same time. Sometimes

that they would have before he even began the writing. In

I return to subjects that I thought were behind me, although

these works, where the changes in register are obvious for all

I have not any a priori desire or special wish to deal with them.

to see, the space in the painting becomes the representation of

Rather, it is like re-meeting these images and a feeling that

that which flows. Perhaps with these comments, I show my

they still trigger new possibilities in me to continue with

respect for alchemy... In my case, the paths that shaped my

their development. I never establish a revision programme.

work for a period are less calligraphic. They are spatial

In the last few years, to give an example that is still fresh, I feel that the suite, A Garden for Agnes has opened a process that will continue over time. They are forms that I began to perceive and to work on in this way some three years ago.

However, it is a subject that I have carried inside me for quite a bit longer, and I hadn’t managed to get it to manifest itself in the way I needed in order to carry out these works, that could thus open up a continuum of intentions.

K.P.:

If we turn to the 80s we might think of the work of

Brice Marden whose well-known interest in alchemical and numerological systems leads to works that are patently occult in meaning and consequently raises substantial

structures to attract the eye and not allow it to rest anywhere.

questions about the continuing role of the spiritual as a

Although these works seemed not to have precise borders, the

viable factor in serious contemporary abstract painting. Does

movement always returned to centers scattered over different

number interest you – I am thinking here specifically of the

zones of the canvass. These paths have become thinner now

paths, very much Heideggerian holzwege that are

and scarcely cross over each other and they don’t overlap. They

characteristic of your work – and does that void that often

are contained within the surface of the canvass in a calmer

lies at the centre of these works carry specific connotations as

manner, opening up from one single centre, albeit an unstable

far as you are concerned?

one. Somehow the latest works breathe more freely, subtly

A.C.:

Marden’s relationship with Han Shan’s

calligraphies (Cold Mountain, an 18th-century Chinese poet)

expanding from this centre that appears to be empty, being deposited in it, a seed for vision.

shows an enormous communication spanning time and All of us who have followed the history of abstraction

cultures. I do not know how broad-ranging his interest in

K.P.:

numbers is, but he seems to have used this to construct these

know how Kandinsky discovered one route to its realization

works that are a testament to that dialogue. The possibility

through the dematerialization of a recognizable subject and,

that he found in his work to communicate with Cold

even prior to his decision to step into total abstraction, he had

Mountain’s poetry, to bring those texts into the present and

already studied the hidden construction of his paintings: the

provide them with continuity, speaks of his trust in the

trelliswork. It is worth recalling his three categories:

possibility of transformation. When the artist becomes a

impressions, improvisations and compositions. Impressions are just

witness to that transformation, he defines the role of

that, impressions of external nature expressed in painterly

8

form. Improvisations represent a higher type which consists of

landscape but rather as a microcosm that speaks to us of this

“expressions of events of an inner character, hence

entirety that we inhabit. This interest in interpreting

impressions of internal nature.” The highest class is that of

common themes attracts me due to all it means in terms of

the compositions which are “the expressions of feelings that

translation and intention; the multiplicity of perceptions

have been forming within me in a similar way (but over a very

that appear, based on the same forms. In this case, I have also

long period of time), which, after the first preliminary

looked at pieces of these forms under the microscope, not

sketches, I have slowly and almost pedantically examined and

with any scientific intention, but just to see the repetition of

worked out.” The implication here is an ascent from the world

their structures, the minuscule differences within these life

of sense impressions to the level of intellectual deliberation.

systems that obstinately persist in a family with a common

At the root of Kandinsky’s search is the desire for “a cosmos of

identity. Meanwhile, those initial drawings were still there,

spiritually active beings”, and in order to achieve this he seeks

waiting for our encounter. Often I think that one is not open to receiving at the time when a new theme makes its

Suite: un jardín para Agnes

appearance and one can only be aware of the announcement of its arrival. What is true is that these forms were growing, independent of my will, and each time I returned to them they showed a bit more of their possibilities. There is an underlying current of joy, of letting go, once a theme begins to become inevitable. When one reaches this point, doubts and denial about it disappear. This is when I feel that these forms are truly inside me and I am able to start working with them. In this way, the process becomes at times a “mental solo”. In these works, I live the deep sensation of communicating with these new forms, of being able to speak to create a dynamic space in which individual emotions

out beyond my intentions. They maintain a development

manifest themselves in softly expressed colour and form.

that could be similar to the states that Kandinsky describes.

Looking at the works in this show the smaller pieces seem to be variations on a theme using biomorphic or even leaf shapes

K.P.:

whilst the larger works exploit the play of line and line as the

full of subtle nuances, that seems to lie at the emotional

carrier of colour?

centre of your work. How do you see its role?

A.C.:

Let me close with a question on your use of colour, so

In these small-format works that I was

A.C.:

For me, color is

referring to before, the theme appeared a long time ago, and

not in the things. Rather it is the objects that are in the color.

not just through observing Nature. When a new theme

Color is not fixed in any place. It is permanently moving: it is

appears, I usually let it be in after the first drawings, as if it

stained light. In my work, there are concentrations of color

had not yet quite reached me. Later, and only if its presence

energy in the form of lines that move from one place to

persists, I begin to get interested in it more consciously. I

another in search of a body in which to deposit themselves.

begin by investigating it, comparing and contrasting it with

Color is alive as this energy shifts. It is autonomous, not yet

other representations from other historic moments and other

related to the other forms that intervene in the piece. The

cultures. It is clear that these biomorphic forms, these dream-

successive layers of almost transparent paint allow this light

like leaf shapes, led me to look into botany books, especially

to internalize and enter the weave of the canvas. I invite you

travelers’ logs of herbs they found, Japanese books with

to travel towards the centre of the painting. If you penetrate

representations of plants, ancient treatises on medicinal

it, you will find yourself enveloped in this light of color. And

herbs with illustrations... I see leaves, not so much as part of a

there will be silence.

• 9

1.

10

Aire de oriente

[ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 210 x 140 cm ]

2.

El comienzo

[ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 200 x 250 cm ]

13

3.

14

Ă lbum de los dĂ­as

[ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 130 x 120 cm ]

4.

HĂŠlices

[ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 130 x 120 cm ]

15

5.

16

MelodĂ­as inventadas

[ 2009, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 160 x 130 cm ]

6.

18

Constelaci贸n

[ 2008, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 160 x 130 cm ]

7.

20

Margarita

[ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 180 x 190 cm ]

8.

22

Murmullo de mundo

[ 2009, acrylic on canvas, 160 x 180 cm ]

9.

24

El centro de tu vida

[ 2009, acrylic and colour pencil on canvas, 100 x 130 cm ]

10.

26

El manto de la tarde

[ 2008, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 80 x 90 cm ]

11.

El ciclo de los vientos (dĂ­ptico)

[ 2009, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 70 cm ]

27

List of works • The Accessible, Dressed in Salts 11.

Aire de oriente • Air of Orient p. 11 [ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 210 x 140 cm ]

12.

El comienzo • The Beginning p. 12-13 [ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 200 x 250 cm ]

13.

Álbum de los días • Album of the Days p. 14 [ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 130 x 120 cm ]

14.

Hélices • Helices p. 15 [ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 130 x 120 cm ]

15.

Melodías inventadas • Invented Melodies p. 17 [ 2009, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 160 x 130 cm ]

16.

Constelación • Constellation p. 19 [ 2008, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 160 x 130 cm ]

17.

Margarita • Margarita p. 21 [ 2009, acrylic, colour pencil and graphite on canvas, 180 x 190 cm ]

18.

Murmullo de mundo • World Murmur p. 23 [ 2009, acrylic on canvas, 160 x 180 cm ]

19.

El centro de tu vida • The Center of your Life p. 25 [ 2009, acrylic and colour pencil on canvas, 100 x 130 cm ]

10.

El manto de la tarde • The Evening Mantle p. 26 [ 2008, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 80 x 90 cm ]

11.

El ciclo de los vientos (díptico) • The Cycle of the Winds (Diptych) p. 27 [ 2009, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 70 cm ]

12.

La casa elevada • The Elevated House p. 2 [ 2007, watercolour on paper, on wood, 26,5 x 19,5 cm ]

13.

Suite: un jardín para Agnes • A Garden for Agnes. Suite pp. 5, 7 and 8-9 [ 2009, acrylic, watercolour and graphite on canvas, on cardboard, 23,5 x 18,5cm each one ]

alejandro corujeira 19 9 7

Born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1961.

Sol Cuello, Galería May Moré, Madrid.

2 0 0 5

Arte Abstracto (hoy), Centro de España

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

en Buenos Aires.

1986 BFAP, Pueyrredón, Buenos Aires. Lives

La Galería, Quito, Ecuador.

Arte en las planchas, Red Itiner, Comunidad

in Madrid (Spain) since 1991.

Estrella, Galería Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

The painter with his daughter Margarita, 2009

19 9 6

Escribir

Atravesado de estrellas, Sala de Arte

El Brocense, Cáceres.

Arco ’05, Madrid, Marlborough Gallery,

Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber,

New York.

19 9 5

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

19 9 3

Galería Sebastiá Jané, Barcelona.

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá.

19 9 2

Galería Detursa, Madrid.

Galería Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

19 9 1

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

Galería Juan Martín, México D. F. 2 0 0 9

The accesible, dressed in salts.

Marlborough Gallery, Chelsea, New York.

19 9 0

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

Galería Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

19 8 9

2 0 0 4

Arte Latinoamericano de hoy, Sala de

Armas, Ciudadela, Pamplona.

Labirinti e Memoria, Casa Falconieri, Oristano, Italia.

Arco ’04, Marlborough Gallery, New York.

2 0 0 3

Argentinos de dos mundos, Aranjuez.

Art Espagnol Contemporain, Marlborough Monaco, Monte-Carlo.

Arco ’03, Madrid, Marlborough Gallery, New York, and Galería Sur, Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Galería Juan Martín, México D. F.

Bienal de Pintura Ciudad de Zamora, Zamora.

19 8 8

Galería Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

III Trienal de Arte Gráfico, Palacio de

Marlborough, Madrid.

19 8 7

Galería Praxis, Buenos Aires.

Revillagigedo, Gijón.

Resplandor amarillo. Galería Miguel Marcos,

19 8 6

Galería Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

2 0 0 8

El fruto y lo leve (dibujos). Galería

Impresiones Argentinas, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid.

El jardín del navegante, Museo de Arte Venezuela.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

de Madrid.

Barcelona.

Los rastros de la llama. Sala de Puerta Real, Caja de Granada, Granada.

2 0 0 6

Lo que queda de la certeza y otros lugares,

Extranjeros. Los otros artistas españoles, Museo SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2 0 0 9

Hay Festival. Casa Molino Ängel

Galería Marlborough, Madrid.

Ganivet, Granada.

Lo que crece y nos invita, IVAM, Valencia.

ARCO 09. Madrid, Marlborough Gallery,

Galería La Nave, Valencia.

New York.

Lo que crece y nos invita, Caixanova, Vigo.

2 0 0 5

Obras sobre papel, Galería Marlborough,

Madrid.

2 0 0 3

Galería Arteconsult, Panamá.

Cuarto Premio de Pintura Todisa, Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, Córdoba.

2 0 0 8

En Plenitud. Galería Gemma

Llamazares, Gijón.

Altazor. Ilustrando a Huidobro. Museo de América, Madrid.

de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia.

2 0 0 2

Arco ’02, Galería May Moré, Madrid,

y Galería Sur, Punta del Este, Uruguay.

2 0 0 1

Grandes arquitecturas pequeñas, Galería

Dasto, Oviedo.

Propios y extraños, Galería Marlborough, Madrid.

2 0 0 0

IX Bienal Nacional de Arte Ciudad de

Todo, el canto incluso, era mudanza, Galería

Propuesta. Galería Manuel Ojeda.

Oviedo, Oviedo.

Marlborough, Madrid.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canaria.

Arco ’00, Galería May Moré, Madrid.

Galería Mácula, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

2 0 0 2

La tarea del paisaje, Espacio Uno, Museo

Espacios de Agitación. Galería Marlborough Barcelona.

19 9 9

Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos

Aires.

Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía,

ARCO 08. Madrid, Marlborough Gallery,

Galería Dialogue, París.

Madrid.

New York.

Fundación Nicomedes García Gómez,

ArteBA 08.Buenos Aires, Galería Van Riel.

Segovia.

2 0 0 1

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

Galería La Caja Negra, Madrid.

Galería La Nave, Valencia.

2 0 0 7

Vaivenes. Interferencias entre arquitectura

VII Bienal de Pintura Ciudad de Pamplona,

y pintura. Fundación COAM, Madrid.

Pamplona.

ArteBA, Galería Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

Es cuando duermo que veo claro. Galería

Arco ’99, Madrid, Galería Sur, Punta del

Habitar el rayo, Sala Robayera, Miengo,

Marlborough Barcelona.

Cantabria.

9 Verdades creativas. Torreón de Lozoya,

2 0 0 0

19 9 9

La máquina de las constelaciones, Galería

Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

Cielo extremo, Galería May Moré, Madrid.

19 9 8

Galería Dialogue, París.

Este, Uruguay.

19 9 8

Arco ’98, Galería May Moré, Madrid.

Segovia, España.

FIA, Galería Luis Pérez, Caracas.

ARCO 07. Madrid, Marlborough Gallery,

Premio L’Oréal, Centro Cultural Conde

New York.

Duque, Madrid.

2 0 0 6

Blanton Museum of Art, Texas, Austin.

Galería Niko Gulland, Buenos Aires.

Galería Forum, Lima, Perú.

Arco ’06, Marlborough Gallery, New York,

Libros de Artistas, Palacio de Montemuzo,

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

y Galería La Nave, Valencia.

Zaragoza.

AWARDS 19 9 7

La otra orilla, Casa de América, Madrid.

19 9 1

La escuela del sur, Archer Huntington

Arco ’97, Galería May Moré, Madrid.

Art Gallery, Austin, Texas, and Museo

Signos y símbolos, Museo de Arte Moderno,

Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía,

Buenos Aires.

Madrid.

2 0 0 4

Residencia en la Fundación Josef and

Anni Albers, Bethany, Connecticut.

2 0 0 2

I Premio XVI Bienal de Pintura

Ciudad de Zamora.

Academia Española en Roma.

Arte argentino, Patio Bullrich, Buenos Aires.

I Premio, IV Edición Premio de Pintura

Premio L’Oréal, Centro Cultural del Conde

Propuestas, Galería Detursa, Madrid.

Todisa, Córdoba.

Duque, Madrid.

19 9 0

Arte por artistas, Museo de Arte

Galería David Pérez-Mac Collum,

Moderno, Buenos Aires.

Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Latinart, Galería Anita Shapolsky, New

19 9 6

Líricos del fin de siglo, Salas

York.

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, Beca Yadoo, Saratoga Springs, New York.

19 9 8

Artista joven del año 97, Asociación

de Exposiciones del Ministerio de

VII Bienal Domecq, Museo de Arte Moderno,

Argentina de Críticos de Arte, Buenos

Cultura, Madrid.

México D. F.

Aires.

Arco ’96, Libros de Artistas, Galería May Moré,

19 8 9

Arco’89, Galería Van Riel, Buenos Aires.

Madrid.

III Bienal de La Habana, Centro Wifredo

I Salón de la Asociación de Críticos de Arte, Salas

Lam, La Habana.

Nacionales, Buenos Aires.

Utensillos, Galería Juan Martín, México D. F.

70, 80, 90, Centro Cultural J.L. Borges, Buenos Aires.

11 x 11, CAYC, Buenos Aires.

19 8 8

Corujeira, Salvatierra, Vidal Lozano,

19 9 7

Beca Academia Española en Roma,

Roma.

19 9 6

Diploma, I Salón de Pintura de la

Asociación Argentina de Críticos de Arte, Buenos Aires.

19 9 3

Adquisición, III Muestra Unión

Juegos de Artistas, Galería May Moré,

Museo Sívori, Buenos Aires.

Madrid.

Salón Municipal Manuel Belgrano,

19 9 1

Beca Ciudad de México, México D. F.

Salón de los 16, Círculo de Bellas Artes,

Buenos Aires.

19 8 8

I Premio Fundación Alejandro Shaw,

Madrid.

Retorno y presencia, Galería Ruth Benzacar,

19 9 5

ArtFrankfurt, Lisenberg Arte

Internacional, Frankfurt.

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

V Bienal de Pintura Ciudad Pamplona,

Buenos Aires.

Premio Alejandro Shaw, Fundación Fortabat,

Fenosa, La Coruña.

Buenos Aires.

19 8 5

Mención especial para artistas jóvenes,

Premio Esso de dibujo, Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires.

19 8 7

Art Expo New York, Galería Praxis,

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Pamplona.

New York.

Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection

I Trienal de Arte Gráfico, Palacio de

Centenario Deutsche Bank, Sede Central,

Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Texas.

Revillagigedo, Gijón.

Frankfurt.

Colección Unión Fenosa, La Coruña.

70, 80, 90, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes,

Salón Nacional de Pintura, Salas Nacionales,

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá.

Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires.

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas

19 9 4

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

Salón Municipal Manuel Belgrano, Museo

The Art and Culture Centre of Hollywood,

Sívori, Buenos Aires.

Florida.

Premio Gunther, CAYC, Buenos Aires.

19 9 3

La escuela del sur, Museo Rufino

Premio Saint Valery, Museo de Arte

Sofía Imber, MACCSI. Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, IVAM, Valencia.

Museo Nacional Centro de arte Reina Sofía,

Tamayo, México D. F.

Decorativo, Buenos Aires.

Galería Juan Martín, México D. F.

Exposición paralela Frankfurt-Buenos Aires,

Colección Banco de España, Madrid.

Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, Miami.

Instituto Jung, Buenos Aires.

Museo Municipal de Madrid.

Galería Detursa, Madrid.

19 8 6

Premio Esso, Museo de Arte Castagnino,

III Muestra Unión Fenosa, La Coruña.

Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires.

Sueños geométricos, Arteleku, San

Premio Beca de dibujo, Museo de Arte

Sebastián.

Moderno, Buenos Aires.

Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid.

19 9 2

Una nueva imagen para América, Salas

Premio Federico Lanús, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires.

Madrid.

Colección Fundación Coca Cola, Madrid.

Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de España, Madrid.

Academia Española de Historia, Arqueología y Bellas Artes, Roma.

Calcografía Nacional, Madrid.

Nacionales, Buenos Aires.

Pasado y presente en el arte latinoamericano,

Museo Postal y Telegráfico, Madrid.

El espíritu de Grecia, Salas Nacionales,

Museo de Bellas Artes, La Plata.

Ayuntamiento de Zamora.

Buenos Aires.

Premio Braque, Museo de Arte Moderno,

Colección Todisa.

Descubrir un mundo, Santiago de

Buenos Aires.

Compostela.

La escuela del sur, Museo de Monterrey, México, and Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, Washington D. C.

I N T E R V I E W

Kevin Power

D E S I G N

Alfonso Meléndez

F O T O G R A P H E R

Francisco Fernández (Unidad Móvil)

P R I N T E D

B Y

Tf Artes Gráficas

T R A N S L A T I O N S O F A N S W E R B Y

A

Victoria Hughes

S P E C I A L

Lara Colorado Carol McEvoy

T H A N K S

.

C

.

Marlborough New York

London

Madrid

Marlborough Gallery Inc.

Marlborough Fine Art Ltd

Galería Marlborough, S. A.

40 West 57th Street New York, NY 10019 Telephone 212 541 4900 Fax 212 541 4948 mny@marlboroughgallery.com www.marlboroughgallery.com

6 Albemarle Street London, W1S 4BY Telephone 44 20 7629 5161 Fax 44 20 7629 6338 mfa@marlboroughfineart.com www.marlboroughfineart.com

Orfila, 5 28010 Madrid Telephone 34 91 319 14 14 Fax 34 91 308 43 45 info@galeriamarlborough.com www.galeriamarlborough.com

Marlborough Chelsea

Marlborough Graphics

AGENTS FOR

545 West 25th Street New York, NY 10011 Telephone 212 463 8634 Fax 212 463 9658 chelsea@marlboroughgallery.com www.marlboroughchelsea.com

6 Albemarle Street London, W1S 4BY Telephone 44 20 7629 5161 Fax 44 20 7495 0641 graphics@marlboroughfineart.com

Alfonso Albacete Juan José Aquerreta Martín Chirino Rafael Cidoncha Alberto Corazón Juan Correa Alejandro Corujeira Carlos Franco Manuel Franquelo Juan Genovés Luis Gordillo Abraham Lacalle Francisco Leiro Antonio López García Blanca Muñoz Juan Navarro Baldeweg Pelayo Ortega Daniel Quintero David Rodríguez Caballero Sergio Sanz Darío Villalba The Estate of Lucio Muñoz

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Marlborough Graphics 40 West 57th Street New York, NY 10019 Telephone 212 541 4900 Fax 212 541 4948 graphics@marlboroughgallery.com

AGENTS FOR

Magdalena Abakanowicz Michael Anderson Avigdor Arikha L.C. Armstrong Chakaia Booker Fernando Botero Claudio Bravo Grisha Bruskin Steven Charles Dale Chihuly Chu Teh-Chun Vincent Desiderio Thierry W Despont Jane Dickson Richard Estes Feng Shuo Red Grooms Israel Hershberg Bill Jacklin Kcho Julio Larraz Ricardo Maffei Michele Oka Doner Tom Otterness Beverly Pepper Arnaldo Pomodoro Bruce Robbins Will Ryman Tomás Sánchez Hans Silvester Hunt Slonem Clive Smith Kenneth Snelson Stephen Talasnik Manolo Valdés Viswanadhan Robert Weingarten Zao Wou-Ki The Estate of R.B. Kitaj The Estate of Jacques Lipchitz The Estate of George Rickey

Frank Auerbach Matthew Carr Stephen Conroy Christopher Couch John Davies David Dawson Daniel Enkaoua Karl Gerstner Catherine Goodman Daniela Gullotta Maggi Hambling Clive Head Paul Hodgson John Hubbard Raymond Mason Thérèse Oulton Celia Paul Paula Rego Vladimir Velickovic The Estate of Steven Campbell The Estate of Chen Yifei The Estate of Ken Kiff The Estate of Oskar Kokoschka The Estate of Victor Pasmore The Estate of Sarah Raphael The Estate of Evan Uglow The Estate of Victor Willing

Barcelona Marlborough Barcelona València, 284, 1r 2a a 08007 Barcelona Telephone 34 93 467 44 54 Fax 34 93 467 44 51

Santiago de Chile Monte-Carlo

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Marlborough Monaco

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AGENTS FOR

Important Works available by: Impressionists and Post-Impressionists Twentieth-Century European Masters German Expressionist Post-War American Artists

Roberto Barni Davide Benati The Estate of Alberto Magnelli ©2009, Galería Marlborough Gallery, Inc.

isbn: 978-0-89797-385-4 depósito legal: m-41155-2009 printed in spain

2009

The Accessible, Dressed in Salts

ALEJANDRO CORUJEIRA

alejandro corujeira

Marlborough Chelsea 545 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001 tel: 212 463 8634 • fax: 212 463 9658 www.marlboroughchelsea.com

Marlborough Chelsea

November 19 - December 19