Spain

Irma Álvarez-Laviada

'Idea as Model' proposes a procedure in which the gaze, far from remaining in the recognition of objects and/or materials, inquires to complete its way of seeing; it rests its gaze upon them, recognizing their formal qualities, their plasticity, intending to generate a plastic world in which shapes, color, physicality and their meanings intertwine as to inquire which might be the needed image.

Valencia

Luis Adelantado Valencia

Painting

Idea as Model 3

Idea as Model 2 (III)

Muestrario 4

S.T. (Lo necesario y lo posible X)

Luis Adelantado Valencia is proud to present Idea as Model, a solo exhibition by Irma Álvarez-Laviada (Gijón, 1976). The title of the show borrows the name of a 1976 exhibition at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York, where architect Peter Eisenman presented his axonometric model; a theoretical research into the possibilities of the function of the architectural model in which 'Eisenman intended to prove that architectural models can be more than a simple recording of a project and that, just like drawings, their existence can be considered independent, regardless of the project being represented by them. Thus Eisenman vindicated the autonomy of the conceptual model as part of the design process rather than a mere tool.'1

Álvarez-Laviada explores this notion of autonomy in design through a display furniture where visitors can find fragmented miniature replicas of the artist's works. Extending throughout the four floors of the gallery, this display cabinet dissects the materiality of the works, inserted within the designed structure, as a kind of index of materials. These objects sometimes 'contaminate' one another, enriching them with new perspectives and intangible possibilities.

In this multidisciplinary installation, the artist's intention ruminates between the possibilities of dialogue and conflict manifested by the different semantic fields of each material once they are brought into the artistic field. The piece is therefore a continuation of her investigation into the structural elements and self-reference in painting.

Certain pieces return to the simple use of paper sheets, through which concepts of emptiness, fundamental starting point to the artist, that remind us of the freedom found in traditional mediums seeking an inverted relationship with materials. The artist continues to signified the process towards the work of art through new formalisations, not with the intention of making it disappear but rather extending it to a re-articulation that allows to constitute, to dispose, other meanings from the field of creation.

Idea as model proposes a procedure in which the gaze, far from remaining in the recognition of objects and/or materials, inquires to complete its way of seeing; it rests its gaze upon them, recognising their formal qualities, their functionality, but far from remaining in their recognition, it wonders about what is beyond yet far from any transcendent order. On the contrary, the immanence of the materials found in this project intend to generate a plastic world in which shapes, color, physicality and their meanings intertwine as to inquire which might be the needed image.

Irma Álvarez Laviada´s work has been exhibited in important institutions such as Fundación Cerezales Antonino y Cinia (León), Fundación RAC (Pontevedra) and Museo Patio Herreriano (Valladolid), as well as been part of important collections such as the AECID, Collection Pilar Citoler, the collection of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Fundación Antonio Gala, Galila Barzilai Collection (Brussels) and the Berezdivin Collection (Puerto Rico). She has been granted the BMW Prize, the Botín Foundation Plastic Arts Scholarship and the Residence Scholarship for the Cité des Arts in Paris. Her work has also been exhibited at international fairs such as Maco, Liste, Photo Miami, CIRCA, ARCO, Estampa among others.

Idea as Model

Idea as Model

Take 3D Tour