ARTWORK DESCRIPTION
One of the meanings of the definition of a colossus is an extraordinarily large or outstanding person or thing. This piece is a tribute to all artists and intermediaries in the art world who passionately struggle day by day in a professional context characterized by precariousness. They fighting againts winds and tides of the sea.
This painting is part of my project ”Notes for an ethnography of the art world” about the contemporary art system, the roles of the artistic agents and the difficult situation of the artists. This artwork is a visual metaphor about the art world, highlighting its complexity and the big difficulties in accessing -or adapting- to the art system; as the Spanish art historian Juan Antonio Ramírez said, the art system is an ”extremely fragile ecosystem” in which the survival of some species depend on the others and since the 1980s the mediators have been the agents that assume a preponderant role. However, currently, the relationships between the different agents and their profiles are mutating.
Artists reduced to merchandise are transported by the artistic mediators dressed with panda costumes: as the caretakers of these animals in danger of extinction are disguised to facilitate their reinsertion into the wild natural environment, the career of the ”fragile artist” is managed with care by intermediaries (curators, directors of museums, gallerists, etc.), who implement marketing strategies, relegating the artist to the category of merchandise, to a ready-made. In this painting you can read a label on the box with the printed text: “Fragile”, referred to the artist inside.
The use of disguise and masquerade of the characters suggests, on the one hand, the idea of art as entertainment and, on the other hand, emphasizes the artist’s need to develop survival tactics in a hostile environment such as camouflage.
The main objective of the whole project is to present a visual ethnography of the art world from the perspective of the artist, that registers and questions the polyhedral reality of the artistic field, its most influential actors, the social relations that cross it and the singular characteristics of the artistic scene.
BIOGRAPHY
PhD in Fine Arts with a European Mention from the University of Granada-Spain (2008), Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Granada -Spain- and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan -Italy- (2001) and in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Granada -Spain (2011). Belén Mazuecos completed her artistic training in other foreign institutions, such as the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Costa Rica (2002), the Bocconi University of Milan (2004) or the International Center for Art Economics of Venice-Ca’Foscari University (2005-2009). She has completed her training taking part in workshops with prestigious artists such as Joseph Kosuth, Rogelio López Cuenca, María Zárraga, Narell Jubeline, Carmela Gross, Ricardo Calero, Miguel Ángel Blanco, Eva Lootz, Pilar Albarracín and Eulalia Valldosera, among others.
Currently, she is a Full Professor and researcher of the Painting Department of the University of Granada-Spain.
Her artistic work is located in the field of expanded painting, pivoting from this discipline to the territories of drawing or installation.
In recent years, she has participated in numerous national exhibitions (Rivadavia gallery -Cádiz-, Pescadería Vieja gallery-Jerez, Isabel Hurley art gallery–Málaga-, MECA art gallery- Almería, MUPAM –Málaga-, 41 m2 art gallery–Jaén-, Museum of Almería, Museum of Jaén, Museum of Cádiz, Museum of Huelva, Historical Memory of Andalucía Museum-Granada, Container Art Space –Sevilla-, Fine Arts Museum Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife -Granada-, etc.) and international, in Italy (Cervantes Institute-Milán, Nápoles and Palermo-, Castello della Rancia –Macerata-), Belgium (European Parliament, Bruselas), France (Contemporary Art Center L’Usine Utopic – Tessy-sur-Vire-Normandía-, Lyon Cervantes Institute, College of Spain in Paris and Galería Art & Planete –Paris-) and Brasil (Galería Beco das Artes, Goiânia - Goiás).
She has won several awards for artistic creation during his career, highlighting in 2013 the Social Council Award of the University of Granada to the career of young researchers, 3rd Zabaleta Painting Award (Zabaleta Museum, Jaen), 2nd Granada Council Painting Award, 1st Granada Council Painting Award. Granada, 3rd Granada Council Engraving Award, Andalusian Institute of Women Award, etc.) and in the last three years the 1º Prize of Drawing ”Gregorio Prieto” (Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real, 2019) (the best renomated prize in Drawing in Spain), the 1º Painting Award in Arte Laguna Prize (Venice, Italy, 2020), 1º Art on paper Barcelona Olímpica Award (Barcelona, 2020) and Finalist in Drawing Section at Combat Prize (Livorno, Italy).
Her work is part of various public collections in Spain (Andalusian Institute for Women, City Council of Granada, City Council of Sanxenxo, Water Foundation of Granada, Contemporary Art Collection of University of Granada, Zabaleta Museum (Jaén), Gregorio Prieto Foundation (Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real) and Barcelona Olímpica Foundation (Barcelona).