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ART SWIMMING POOLS III. 10 PROJECTS WITH THE SWIMMING POOL AS THE MAIN PROTAGONIST

Last June we opened the call for entries for the third edition of Arte Piscinas. Perhaps motivated by one of the principles of EXPRESSAN, the non-frontiers between disciplines, one of the objectives of this edition was to reach a greater number of projects, both artistic and design and architecture. After finishing the process I find it interesting to highlight how I have seen many participating artists experimenting with other areas of knowledge.

And the fact is that artistic projects are transforming. There are authors who, although they deal with a single theme throughout their career, the evolution is constant. In the case of the representation of the swimming pool and water, we find David Hockney, the starting point of the Arte Piscinas project. Other authors use this scenario as a one-off inspiration, or represent it in a project by making use of symbolism. An interesting example of the latter is Henri Matisse’s “The Swimming Pool”, a collage piece he produced in his final stage.

In this edition, Arte Piscinas is made up of a selection of eleven artists who, through painting, sculpture, photography and video, bring us closer to different stories about this element. The host artist of Arte Piscinas III, the painter Claudia Suárez, who develops her artistic project fundamentally under this theme, is the one who initiates the narrative of the discourse.

The concept of time runs through each piece, assuming that the present cannot be explained without references to the past, which, in turn, allow us to reflect and question our future.

Throughout the tour we will explore each of the eleven selected projects, not pretending to be exhaustive but with an inspirational air. Arte Piscinas III smells of freshly cut grass, background, falling water and tastes like a summer afternoon. I hope you enjoy it.

ARTISTAS PARTICIPANTES:

CLAUDIA SUÁREZ – ADRIANA BERGES – RAÚL ÁLVAREZ – ANA DE LARA – LUCÍA TELLO – MARIANO LUQUE – MIGUEL NÚÑEZ – VICTOR GONZÁLEZ – MANUEL MEDIAVILLA – CRISTÓBAL TABARES – MARÍA BLANCO

Pools tell stories.

n the biography of any of us you could find a story with the swimming pool as a setting. You simply have to combine three pieces of information: what you have learned, what you have had and who you have met. But when it comes to storing this information in our memory, the emotions that are aroused at that moment are also important: the emotion of the first kiss, the stinging of the water in those dives, the sadness of saying goodbye.

Although they all arise from the experience of the present, each pool tells a story. We go to them, to this recreational space, with the idea of finding something: we look for sun, freshness, fun, friendship, relaxation, solitude, knowledge, healing, entertainment, love, and even to be looked at. It is a place where time passes in a different way, it shortens or expands depending on what we find what we are looking for.

There are pools that seem to be designed by poets. Others, by a naturalist with technological conflicts. And others, by a grumpy engineer. But when different sensibilities come together in art, beautiful things happen. In contemporary art, painters, sculptors and photographers turn to this aquatic setting for inspiration, and to tell stories that can be yours and ours.

This compilation brings together eleven artistic projects that revolve around the swimming pool, organising the works of art into three distinct blocks. In the first group, the host artist, with her pieces, sets the narrative to speak to us of relaxation and the enjoyment of the present; in the second group, the pool immerses us in the memory of the past; and in the third group, the pool is an element that acts as a backdrop for reflection on issues that concern us and will influence us in the future.

I. Presente. Rituales de una tarde de verano

Claudia Suárez, host artist of Arte Piscinas III, presents the series “La tarde de los rituales”, a work created especially for the occasion. As if it were several photograms, the scene represents a pleasant and quiet summer afternoon at the swimming pool.

La tarde de los rituales

The series entitled “La tarde de los rituales – La tarde de los rituales” (The afternoon of rituals) consists of two works in oil on paper. In each work it is possible to appreciate in detail how it is constructed, from the drawing to the most finished areas, with the colour white being a key aspect that is maintained in all of them. The brushstroke is loose and expressive to achieve maximum freshness. I am looking for a summer atmosphere with less saturated tones, where the maximum note of colour, the reds, are built in a context of light tones that bring serenity to the composition.

This series is a pictorial investigation into the figurative representation of summer scenes, specifically in a swimming pool. The human figure serves as the axis to which I add objects, props, furniture and locations. Everything comes together to create a kind of scenography where heat, absurdity and leisure are the fundamental points. As can be seen, there is a certain approach to cinema in this project. The sequences are born from the need to narrate what is happening on a summer afternoon, the fact of repeating the same image several times helps the spectator to enter more easily into the story. It captures their attention and suggests that they stay longer to get to know the work.

The interest in analysing and representing images related to summer stems from the need to value leisure time or tiredness. I am referring to a tiredness that does not exhaust, that does not disqualify you from doing things. It is a tiredness that allows a slowing down of time to meet again with what surrounds you, to perceive things in a special way and to be able to enjoy them. Looking at the insignificant becomes a source of creation and imagination. When I inhabit this type of space I manage to build a place for creation, it consists of observing the people around you. Sometimes it’s bodies, other times it’s their clothes or the relationships they establish with each other. I also look at objects, situations or movements. With this way of observing, I get that which seems banal to find its place and become magnified. I am interested in emphasising the value of the interval, understanding this as a time dedicated to quietening down. In this way, a present appears before us that we did not know existed, making us permeable to everyday situations. I consider the in-between time to be a time of indifference as cordiality. In this slow attention, calmness makes its way, disconnecting all the immediate processes that circulate in our mind.

Claudia Suárez .-

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The project “En Calma”, by Adriana Berges, is made up of several pictorial images and a sound installation. In these times of technological overstimulation, the installation invites us to stop and contemplate the bottom of a swimming pool or spend hours looking at the water while splashing around with our feet. An oasis where time and disconnection are part of the experience.

Adriana Berges

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Raúl Álvarez‘s piece, which belongs to the “Pool” series, conveys feelings of summer and relaxation, in this case, from inside the swimming pool. With a technique that he masters, he presents two pictorial planes through the movement of water: on the one hand, the most realistic forms are those that remain outside the water, while those that remain inside are distorted with the rest of the body.

Raúl Álvarez

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Ana de Lara, through her piece “Visualisation of a swimming pool”, experiments with different materials to construct a scale model representation of the aforementioned swimming pool from a pictorial perspective. The material composition of the swimming pool object, the structure of the pool, the grass and the water, contrasts with the current trend of transferring everything to the digital realm. The play of colour and the light reflected in the water stand out so much that its realism invites us to throw ourselves into it.

Ana de Lara

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The piece “Al sole di fine estate”, by Lucía Tello, reminds us how important it is to be aware of time, as the summer and the afternoons at the swimming pool pass to make way for other activities. With an aesthetic linked to the concept of femininity and a warm visual language, the composition shows us a view of the recreational space from a window, placing the spectator as a participant in the contemplation itself.

Lucía Tello

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II. Pasado. Termas, aljibes y momentos que permanecen.

Mariano Luque‘s video piece moves away from the means of expression in which the artist usually works. In “Birds & bells”, birdsong and the sound of bells are heard in the background, acting as an evocative stimulus that helps the place, the swimming pool, to be contemplated in order to rescue moments from the past. A sequence charged with nostalgia, suggesting the near, sifted by the passage of time, and the memory of moments lived on a hot summer day.

Mariano Luque

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Miguel Núñez presents the piece “Y DESPUÉS DE LA LEÑA…” which takes us to the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia, Bolonia (Cádiz). Archaeological remains of thermal baths or pools that evoke the enjoyment and pleasure of previous civilizations in these environments, a landscape to be experienced. The theatrical and calm composition of the pictorial piece suggests to us, more than a memory, the link to origins, to the roots of each one of us. “And after the firewood… come fruits!

Miguel Núñez

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“Paraje Limítrofe”, by Víctor González, is a pictorial work that tries to graphically materialise the abstract vision of a memory or an experience in an aquatic landscape. The limits of the architectural element of the cistern, and of the water it contains, take centre stage, contrasting with those blurred or suggested elements that represent the unreliability of our memories. The work makes visible those differences between what we imagine, that which the process of transferring to a pictorial medium cannot capture, and what we actually experience.

Víctor González

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III. Futuro consciente

Manuel Mediavilla presents the sculptural project “Narcis@s”, inspired by Ovid’s mythological tale. Some figures of young swimmers lean over the edge of the pool to look at themselves in the water as if it were a mirror. While it conveys sensations of contemplation, admiration and risk, it also suggests a reflective look at other issues such as identity and the image we project to others.

Manuel Mediavilla

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The piece “Caos”, by Cristóbal Tabares, is a critical look at this consumer society through an aerial view of a hotel complex. The textures of the colours and the attention to detail, so characteristic that the word “chaos” can even be seen playing with the shapes of the pools, make us think of the painting as if it were a postcard from a gift shop, an element to remember or, rather, not to forget. Enjoyment and excessive consumption are mixed in this unusual perspective for the spectator, acting as an examination of our responsibility for the conservation of natural space.

Cristóbal Tabares

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María Blanco Rodríguez presents “El Río”, a photographic piece in which the plastic pool is decontextualised from its function. In the constructed scenario, the passage of time is perceived, taking us to an abandoned place full of symbolism and questioning the spectator’s position towards environmental issues. Nature expands in those places where human beings have ceased to inhabit, however, it is very likely that the artificial, the plastic, will take longer to disappear.

María Blanco Rodríguez

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ARTE PISCINAS III. 10 PROYECTOS CON LA PISCINA COMO PROTAGONISTA.

CLAUDIA SUÁREZ, ARTISTA ANFITRIONA

Gracias a todos los participantes por la amabilidad y por pertenecer a esta tercera edición.

Y aún hay mucho más

CHARLAS EN AUDIO CONTEMPORÁNEO, EL PODCAST DE EXPRESSAN

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