Minus Space Oaxaca Mexico

MINUS SPACE

March 15 – April 30, 2012
Opening: Thursday, March 15, 7pm at IAGO (Macedonio)

Organized by artists Matthew Deleget (New York) and Emi Winter (Oaxaca), the exhibition MINUS SPACE en Oaxaca: Panorama de 31 artistas internacionales features 31 reductive artists from around the world associated with MINUS SPACE in Brooklyn, New York.

MINUS SPACE was founded as an online project in 2003 by artists Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martínez. It is one of very few venues internationally specifically dedicated to exhibiting and promoting reductive art. Reductive art is characterized by its use of simple materials, monochromatic or limited color, geometry and pattern, repetition and seriality, precise craftsmanship, and intellectual rigor.

While Mexico has a strong Modernist tradition of abstract, geometric, and conceptual art, the work by many contemporary reductive artists from abroad is not well-known locally. MINUS SPACE en Oaxaca is the first presentation of these artists’ works in Mexico.

The exhibition MINUS SPACE en Oaxaca has two facets: a survey of recent editions and multiples by 31 artists at the Instituto de Artes Graficas de Oaxaca (IAGO), and four large-scale, site-specific works simultaneously presented at Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca (MACO), Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños (MUPO), Biblioteca Henestrosa, and IAGO Juarez.

MINUS SPACE en Oaxaca is dedicated to the memory of artist Julian Dashper (1960-2009, Auckland, New Zealand), who was the catalyst for the exhibition.

Jan van der Ploeg: Tribute
Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca Juárez (IAGO)
Av. Juarez 222, Centro
Oaxaca, México, CP 68000

Jan van der Ploeg (b. 1959, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) creates large-scale, site-specific wall paintings in both interior and exterior architectural settings. Informed by a wide array of sources, including Maori motifs, Islamic ceramics, Portuguese azulejos, and Italian architectural marble design, his highly-chromatic, patterned paintings are devoid of narrative and are located at the intersection of pure visual sensation and abstract thought. The wall painting Tribute is an homage to New Zealand artists Gordon Walters (1919–1995) and Julian Dashper (1960–2009), and the composition specifically references the Maori koru motifs of Walters’ paintings.

Floor tile design by Francisco Toledo