THE MARTÍN
FREIRE TRUST
Opening: July
17, 2014
Date: July 18 - November 2, 2014
Place: South Cloister 2
The work presented here, 4º de juegos (a play on
words that can mean "4th of Games" or "Game Room") by Martín Freire,
was given in trust to the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in
2011 when, for various reasons, the artist was considering leaving
it in the street at the mercy of vandals and the elements until
it disappeared altogether. This installation, exhibited here for
the first time, was produced with a grant received from the Regional
Government of Andalusia's Iniciarte Programme, and has joined another
large sculptural work which entered the CAAC Collection thanks to
that programme's acquisitions.
Two fundamental premises underpin the work of Martín Freire (Seville, 1975). The first is his insistence on researching and developing intervention strategies for exhibition venues and observing the tension that his installations create in those spaces. The second is the preponderance of the idea of process in his work, which explains why many of his creations are presented as works-in-progress with no possible conclusion.
We can see both premises at work in 4º de juegos. Freire has invaded the exhibition space, defending the use of ephemeral materials as one of the basic pillars of contemporary narration; and at the same time, he has turned the gallery into a kind of experimental lab or zone for presenting a work that is more process than product. In fact, this piece can be presented in several different ways, something the artist considers essential to the creative process: Freire himself intervenes in the set-up, adjusting the main pieces, the two Triton and Falcon boats, according to the place and context in which they are displayed.
References to the world of children are a constant in his oeuvre, but for all their amusing and carefree connotations they primarily serve to construct a critical, contemplative vision of our society. Rather than encouraging narration, Freire attempts to create oppressive atmospheres behind which we sense a veiled criticism of a disturbed, aseptic, terrified individual.
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