mutacion

"CECILIA CABALLERO" Art Gallery 2001 Exposition 2000 Work Mutation Alejandra Mettler In the mid-seventies, artistic acts headed firmly for the performance. Visual arts invaded theatres; artistic installations were the undisputed protagonists of this new aesthetic. For good or worse all the expressions that led to an indiscriminate use of multimedia, demonstrated that the artistic movement tendency should go through a parallel path to the one described by the new show of life. There was no place for "the other art". During last fifteen years a domestic imaginary has developed, as an attempt to surpass the industrial aesthetic by revisiting an old tradition anchored in the feminine labours, such as the knit, crochet weaving and tapestry making. This works were also matter for multiple theories, such as the recovery of tradition or the use of those ancient artistic techniques as new forms of painting exercises. In this new exhibition, Alejandra Mettler utilizes those simple materials to create a rich impression as the object of her art, but not dealing with that so feared "domestic aesthetic". Ingres used to say that draw is art's probity. This ancient statement it is firmly confirmed in this work. Alejandra Mettler handles materials as many other female artists, such as Eva Hesse, Lousie Bourgeois or Janine Antoni have done. Threads, wool woven, ribbons of vibrant colours, and even hoses, become raw materials she tries to strip of their usual contents, producing what she calls "a mutation process". It is true that we can find that mutation in her work, but it is also true that in her acts we can find other things. The lines of her threads describe delicate and subtle draws. Living scratches are designed by the mass of gummy tapes. Monochromatic and expressive paintings are developed on the plain surface of woven covered by resin's conundrum. With all this elements, it is certainly confirmed that draw is art's probity. Mettler utilizes tasty colours, “cherry, strawberry, candy pink” in her spinning. Then she proceeds to wrap, cover, conceal, dress, expand or compress. And lastly she recoats, lay or unlock in resin, using this material as frame, box, support or mirror. She utilizes multiples strategies to hide and reveal at the same time the nature of her work. Mettler deconstructs her aesthetic crafts, leading us not to detain ourselves in a simple narrative or conclusion; all those inventions are only pretexts to reintroduce us in an unconventional, intimate, delicate and architectural expression of draw and paint. Dr. Hugo Petruschansky

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Alejandra Mettler -