At the entrance to
Aula Expandida
by
Amalia Pica
(Neuquén, 1978), her
first solo exhibition
at the Tanya Bonakdar gallery in
New York
, there is a video that shows her in a white overall recreating something like "
the white horse of San Martín"
.
Teacher?
Student?
“Both things?” Pica responds to
Clarín Cultura
from London
, where he lives.
And he explains that "you also learn to imagine", as a child in school, of course, and even as an adult.
“It is said that artists work with intuition, as if it were something natural and innate.
But even intuition is cultural, in the sense that it is conditioned by what we saw and what we were taught to see.
The same goes for imagination.
And
how we learn to imagine and intuit is what I am interested
in dealing with in my work,” she says.
The video is titled
About Education
and, of course, it is no coincidence that it deals with other
myths
.
“In 2003, when I finished Pueyrredón - the School of Fine Arts, in Buenos Aires -, I taught in primary schools – says Pica -.
At that time I was thinking about how to start exhibiting my work and I knew that, among what people saw the most, were the sets for school events.
It occurred to me that
instead of correcting what is wrongly taught through words, I could 'amend mistakes' by working with the equestrian monuments
."
Amalia Pica.
Portrait Courtesy CC Foundation
"Even intuition is cultural, in the sense that it is conditioned by what we saw and what we were taught to see"
The monuments are solemn.
But the allusion to the old question,
what color is Saint Martin's white horse?
it makes you smile.
This is how Pica works.
She creates lovingly, even with humor, without overshadowing criticism
.
In fact, in 2013, for the 30 years of democracy, he literally painted the horse of the statue of San Martín in the city of Neuquén white (with chalk), among other interventions.
And she has already been seen in the white uniform in her works.
On the wall.
Works by Amalia Pica.
Courtesy: Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Pierre Le Hors
“In the monuments I also see the creation of
myths, heroes, almost magical beings,
” he adds.
and the role of the school in
imparting an imaginary
, a common past, which in general is born with the
National State
and European
immigration
and forgets the
original communities
.
Although communication is a key issue in Pica's work,
Hora Cátedra
, a proposal from the beginning of the century in which he dyed the
Casa de Tucumán
, white, yellow as in school manuals, investigates
how the lessons of the childhood.
Pica has already exhibited at the
Venice Biennale
and the South Korean Biennale, at the
MoMA
and at the
Tate Modern
in London, among other central spaces.
And his works are part of the collections of the Moma, the Tate, the
Guggenheim in New York
and
the National Museum of Fine Arts in Neuquén
, among others.
Now he is about to leave for the
ARCOMadrid 2024 fair.
Life and art, on green chalkboard
In
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, the star work is an installation,
Aula Grande
, which shows a
domestic space painted blackboard green
and everyday objects, chairs, cups, books, a guitar, with white chalk outlines, arranged to create
games between the bi and three-dimensionality.
"Big Classroom."
By Amalia Pica.
Courtesy: Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Pierre Le Hors
“When children are between 3 and 4 years old and their drawings begin to gain a more figurative, representative profile, they also become a bit like words, in the sense that they can be read as another example of the way in which we form the imagination,
how we socialize and, at the same time, format
,” says Pica.
An example?
“For me, one of the clearest is
the little house with the gabled roof, Alpine, European
.
Most kids draw it even if they have never seen one in real life.
It is proof that this is how we are learning, more than what a house is like, what is the way in which we all conceive and recreate it.”
"The little house with the gabled roof, Alpine, European. Most kids draw it even if they have never seen one in real life"
The artist adds: “We think that education is what you have to start with to begin to emancipate yourself.
TRUE.
But, in parallel, the school is a machine for reproducing the
status quo
.
It is paradoxical but
where change begins, reproduction reigns
.”
Detail.
"Aula Grande", by Amalia Pica.
Courtesy: Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Pierre Le Hors
With the idea of inviting you to twist some of that,
Aula Grande
includes
colored chalk
.
The idea is that the public, of whatever age, however they want, intervenes.
It is an invitation
to play seriously
, which is ultimately the way we learn.
From the Rivadavia notebook to Marino
It stings too
In this exhibition he exhibits two
drawings of sheets from Rivadavia notebooks
, one lined and the other squared.
“Argentines who are over 40 years old add
layers of reading
.
We evoke the school, Rivadavia, the State, its ideology in the country in formation.
A lot of meanings that cannot be translated into English.
But I think that it is clear to anyone that this work aims to show that
there is no such thing as a blank page, which is another representation, like those
hanging drawings,” he points out.
"There is no such thing as a blank page either, which is another representation, like these hanging drawings"
In addition to being an artist, Pica is the mother of
Marino, who is almost 4 years old
.
She enlarged his drawings and embroidered them
.
She comments that it is the most loving and intimate work in the entire exhibition.
“At home we speak Spanish but in the garden Marino speaks English.
From time to time
he says to me:
Good boy!
There you have it: gender, another construction,
another form of identity that is learned
,” he comments.
“
What does Marino teach me?
He loves airports so I discovered that they have their own fire station, for example.
But the main thing is that with the kids you rediscover everything that your childhood left you.”
And, through Pica's works, you can even try transforming it.
The
Expanded Classroom
exhibition can be visited at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, 521 West 21st Street, New York, until April 4.
J.S.