Angel in Spain

Today , the Angel Orensanz Foundation will talk about his idealizer Angel, and take you in a journey of the exhibitions the artist did in the country he was born, Spain. The artist moved to NYC in the 80,s. He feel in love with the abandoned synagogue in 172 Norfolk St. , in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and bought it. In 1992 it opened as the Angel Orensanz Foundation, a base for Angel to work and also a center for the arts. But he was never bound to a place; Angel traveled the world with his art and eventually was drawn back to Spain.

In fact, the Spanish sculptor has been exposing in the european country since 67, but that is just a little too long ago, so lets focus on the big installations of the last ten years.  In 2006 he did a exhibition in Castile, near Madrid, a two square kilometers depiction of Don Quijote and his fabled horse into the old land of Castile, where Cervantes envisioned him five hundred years ago. The show was made possible with the support of locals, something Angel always try to incorporate in his work.

“After a full year of international abuzz about Cervantes’ Don Quijote; after thousands of shows and lectures, political posturing and cultural ruminations, I thought that it was time to release Don Quijote itself into the very land where his creator placed him.” – Angel Orensanz

Two years after, in 2008, he celebrated one of his favorite forms, the sphere with the implementation of a 15 feet diameter sculpture piece in front of the World Trade Center, in the capital city of Aragon, Zaragoza. The sculpture traveled until its final destination in a parade of civic pride and art celebration and the crowds flanked the center of the city and the avenues en route to the sculpture’s destination.

 “It is the most universal concept in human culture, from Parmenides to Einstein. This one in steel is a final version of a transparent one that I built in New York, and rolled down Fifth Avenue, from the Metropolitan Museum to City Hall to mourn the tragic events of September 11. This sphere portrays a new world in constant transition and redefinition of itself,” – Angel Orensanz

From the capital of Aragon, he went to the capital of Spain, Madrid, where he exposed in the Museo del Traje, the exhibition called Paradigmas, invaded the museum’s extensive gardens, with site-specific sculptural installations. The bright and colorful fabrics hang from the trees, are intertwined in the entrance’s rotunda and enmeshed in the fountains, inviting the viewer to observe the constant dialogue that takes place between the artist and nature.

Finally, his most recent work in Spain is still visible in the University of Barcelona, more specifically in the gardens (Angel is fond of nature and the relationships in can create) of its historic building, in Barcelona, where Angel is exposing the exhibit  “Time, Space and Innovation” . 

Sources: prweb, ub, angelorensanz 

The legendary Black Panthers

Today the Angel Orensanz Foundation blog is dedicated to the recognition of a film producer who emerged on the movie scene during the 1980’s as an independent director and has transformed the way African- Americans were perceived in Hollywood films ever since. His artistic visions has  spread even to our Foundation.

In earlier years, The Angel Orensanz Foundation acted as a set of enrichment to spectators who were told the story of the Black Panthers, a movement that will never be forgotten. On that day, the  Foundation introduced for the first time the director Spike Lee and the actor Roger Guenveur Smith in their seventh collaboration to produce their newest film, the 2002 release “A Huey P.Newton Story”(AHPNS).

In an intimate setting with a live audience, Smith created, wrote and starred in a dramatized account of Huey P Newton, the late co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. His monologue manifested an intimate portrait of Newton with use of chain smoking as prop and hues of green and yellow in the dimly lit atmosphere. Newton, portrayed as a rapid talking, slightly absurd revolutionary, entertained the audience as they stood on the perimeter outside of a cage, which separated them from the speaker in symbolism of a jail cell.

Creative genious Spike Lee employed a mixture of film and archival footages in both color and black & white to capture Newton’s “inner mind” on big screens that covered the synagogue and surrounded Smith in character. These two men, by way of a dramatized reenactment, brought to life the history and philosophies of the revolutionary icon Huey P. Newton.

“And the people create what they call a leader. A leader is everything the people want to be but everything the people will never be. So when the leader fails, which he will every time, being just flesh and blood, then the whole construction of the concept of a leader becomes a matter of contempt.” – Huey P. Newton

 

Paradigma by Angel Orensanz in El Museo del Traje, Madrid

ANGEL ORENSANZ

PARADIGMA  

Museo del Traje, CIPE. 

Avda. Juan de Herrera, 2

Madrid, Spain

July 28 – October 30, 2011

The Ministry of Culture presents an innovative exhibition in the Museo del Traje’s gardens with artworks by Angel Orensanz (Larués, Huesca, 1951) a conceptual artist that has become a figure of international prestige. Acclaimed by the critic and the public as one the most outstanding sculptors, the Contemporary Art Biennial of Florence paid homage to his career in 2001. He has also been awarded the Gold Medal from the Russian Fine Arts Academy.

The exhibition will be presented in the museum’s extensive gardens, with site-specific sculptural installations. The bright and colorful fabrics hang from the trees, are intertwined in the entrance’s rotunda and enmeshed in the fountains.  The show, curated by the artist himself, invites the viewer to observe the constant dialogue that takes place between the artist and nature through his flying sculptures. In addition, his latest audio-visual works will be on view on the first floor of the museum.

With this new project the Museo del Traje’s historic textile collection gains a new light, under the revealing perspective of contemporary creativity.  This innovative approach is part of the Ministry of Culture’s strategy to foster the production of contemporary art.  Its main goal is to promote diverse dialogues between the artists and the state museums, and to enhance artistic innovation through the use of a wide range of multidisciplinary mediums.

The opening will take place on Thursday, July 28 at 8:00 pm and will remain open to the public through October 30, 2011. The following personalities will attend the opening: the general Director of the Fine Arts Section of the Ministry of Culture, Ángeles Albert de León; the Museo del Traje’s director, Rafael García Serrano; and artists Ángel Orensanz.

Organizers: Ministry of Culture (General Section of Fine Arts Promotion and Museo del Traje. CIPE).

Curator: Angel Orensanz

Venue: Museo del Traje’s gardens. CIPE. Avda Juan de Herrera, 2. Madrid

For more information visit: MUSEO DEL TRAJE

A Mexican Portrait

Media Feedback on the exhibit “A Mexican Portrait”

Exhibited in New York  – Real Life Issues –  with artwork about the reality of the country.

The notion that emerging Mexican artists don’t care about what happens in their country and that  they are uninterested and disconnected from the reality… the Real Life Issues exposition shows the contrary.

The show that opened last Thursday at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, is conceived as an exhibition in which the works and artists from Monterrey, Mexico and Oaxaca Fotballklubb make proposals and  talk about Mexican social reality.

“The proposals did not have to do with the war on drugs in this occasion, but somehow, with collateral damage that this has shed, saysFrancisco Benitez, curator of exhibition at interview via mail.

A group of artists who got together in the city, like, Thomas Hache, René Almanza, Adriana Vazquez, Jessica Salinas, Gerardo Otoniel and Rebecca Olguín, are showcased, along with other creators with collages, expanded graphics, installations, as well as examples of transformation of materials. In reality, this exposure refers to the social context that Mexico lives  silently. The social context generates a comprehensive and multifaceted framework in which the everyday Real Life Issues are lived, noted Olguín, via mail.

The works represent the concern and the eagerness to provoke reactions on important matters of the country such as the fragility of emerging economies and the industrial transformation of Monterrey.

“Sometimes a little football, telenovelas or celebrations without sense, shift completely to the really important things”, said Benítez.

Abraham Vazquez.

Diario del NORTE. Sunday, 12 December 2010.

New Photos from Hush’s opening and Tina Psoino’s Show at the AOF

Foundation curator Frank Gerard Godlewski with one of Hush's images.

Visit Hush’s Blogspot and have a look at photos of Hush’s wildly successful show at the Angel Orensanz Foundation – more content coming soon!

Photos here:  Hush’s Opening Photos at Flickr

Also Tina Psoino’s show Layers Desigual which ran at the Foundation from November 12th – 18th has photos online; see our Flickr and Blog for photos and info.

25 Years of Angel Orensanz in Russia

 

Videos showing Angel's work spanning 25 years in Russia were displayed Monday Night.

On Monday, November 8, the Angel Orensanz Foundation proudly presented the second installment of The Annual Russian Art Festival. For this occasion, the Foundation showed a collection of videos synthesizing the last 25 years of sculptor Angel Orensanz’s involvement in Russia. The latest Soviet Period, the Perestroika and current Russian times showcasing his artistic activity are portrayed. The videos serve as a chronological overview of the latest history of this expansive country and Orensanz’s contribution to its art scene.

Angel Orensanz, educated in Barcelona and Paris, opened his studio in New York in the early 1980’s after working with several architects such as Marcel Breuer, Martin Gelber and John Portman. He has developed major installation concepts for environmental shows such as Holland Park, London; Red Square, Moscow; Roppongi-Park and Senso-ji, Tokyo; the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin; and ABC Playground (Houston St.), New York. Since the early 1990’s he has developed a prolific body of work in performance, conceptual art and video.

This poster showcasing Angel's work greeted visitors to the exhibition.