Postcards to AZ, 2016, installation view, Josee Bienvenu Gallery, New York, NY

Martí Cormand

Postcards to AZ

June 7 – July 22, 2016

Opening reception: Tuesday June 7, 6pm to 8pm

June 7 - July 22, 2016

 

The gallery is pleased to present Postcards to AZ, a solo exhibition by Spanish born, American artist Martí Cormand. This new series of 7 x 5 inch oil paintings and graphite drawings exist as symbolic excavations and distant iterations of lost masterworks during the Nazi regime, challenging not only the notion of remembrance but also the materiality of history.

Arranged in a museological display, qualities of transparency, density, light, shadow, and extreme precision are applied to either bring the works to a point of self-consciousness, or to articulate the oblivion of the subjects. Cormand’s work attests to the coalescence of time, or rather, of an intangible past that can only be grasped in the present through intuition. According to the artist, our present reaffirms the concept of an "eternal return," the idea that our existence is cyclical in nature instead of linear. These images also become a byproduct of entangled temporality in cyberspace, where Cormand often derives his source material.

Born in Barcelona in 1970, Martí Cormand lives and works in New York. Select exhibitions include: Martí Cormand, Galería Cayón, Madrid (2014); "Formalizing Their Concept” Galería Casado Santapau, Madrid, (2014); Formalizing their concept, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, NY (2013); Algo de esto, Jugada a 3 bandas (Ja3b), Galeria etHall, Barcelona (2013); False Documents and Other Illustrations, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine (2010 - 2011); Arranz-Bravo Foundation, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona (2010); Galerie Lelong, New York (2010); Aldrich Emerging Artist Award Show, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2007); Villa Arson, Nice (2006).

Press

ARTFORUM | October 2016
Village Voice | July 12, 2016
Forbes, Lifestyle | June 6, 2016
Artsy | June 3, 2016