{"id":1092,"date":"2020-03-03T08:26:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T08:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2020-03-03T08:31:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T08:31:36","slug":"shaping-our-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/03\/03\/shaping-our-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"SHAPING OUR THINKING"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SHAPING OUR THINKING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincretismo;\npress viewing; Cic El Almacen, Arrecife 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The venue\u00b4s famous logo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cic El Almacen further demonstrate its versatility as an arts centre by hosting a recently-opened, intriguing and thought provoking visual arts exhibition, that will remain in situ until April 25th<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincretismo, by the Lanzarotean sculptor Rigoberto\nCamacho, collects his latest production of works, which, based on an\ninvestigation that could be described as anthropological, fuses in his pieces\nnew and old material elements. These combine to express cultural diversity\nthrough the symbiosis, coexistence and the integration of such elements. Deep\ndown, what Rigoberto Camacho proposes is to question the concept of identity in\nWestern societies based on ideas of race, colour or culture, and even of self.\nThe coolture arts web site describes it well with their headline suggesting\nthat  the sculptor Rigoberto Camacho\nunites modern culture with traditional in his exhibition Sicretismo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Artist Rigoberto Camacho (left)
discusses Sincretismo with the press<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To give all the details of Sincretismo, Rigoberto Camacho himself previewed the exhibition, accompanied by the Councillor of Culture of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Alberto Aguiar, in a press event held in the venue on Thursday 23rd<\/sup> January. He spoke to tv and radio journalists from The Canary Islands, Lancelot Media and Biosphere tv (in Spanish, so I can give only a very brief overview) about his materials, methodology and motivation in creating this collection. He spoke of his materials giving an impression of destiny to the viewer but being in fact soft and pliable to the artist. all across the arts<\/em> will try to bring you more about his methodology when we attend the add-on walk around tour that will be conducted on 18th<\/sup> February at 6.00 pm. by Estifania Comejo, our favourite multi-tasking teacher, student and freelance curator and artist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We bumped into Estefania at the press conference,\nwhich she attended briefly before work called her to another room in Cic El\nAlmacen where she was talking, playing and working with young children,\nenthusing a new generation with her own love of the arts. She will explain to\nthem we\u00b4re sure, but we know, too that she will encourage them to make their\nown explorations and make their own informed evaluations. She told us that she\nis currently taking a masters course and we look forward to another interesting\ninterview with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Rigoberto\u00b4s motivation for this Sincretismo\nexhibition it speaks immediately, and in this quiet setting of a private\nviewing for the press, quite loudly, in a plea for awareness and tolerance of\neach other and to celebrate the similarities and differences between the races,\nreligions and cultures of this world rather than condemn them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
a major piece in Sincretismo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The largest of the pieces, is almost centrally in the floor of the main exhibition space, and forces us to think even more deeply about how human kindness reacts to less-than-sea-worthy-boat loads of people arriving on our shores, some dreadfully ill and undernourished, some already dead from the journey from their homeland. This is powerful art and has something important to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We returned a week or two later to follow Estefania on\nher guided walk and talk, as she led a small party through the collection that\nis Sincretismo. Before we actually looked into the studio, though, she took us\nupstairs to the education centre. This is a beautifully laid out technical area\nwith computers and audio visual facilities. This enables her to show a short\nintroductory film about Cesar Manrique, the artist who of course inspired so\nmuch of the current positive attitude to art and culture in Lanzarote. Cic El\nAlmacen, as it is today, is a realisation of his vision, that led to him and\nsome artist colleagues turning a run-down building in to what is today affectionately\ntermed The Warehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in Spanish, of course, for the party she was\nleading, Estefania promised us an interview later, which we gladly accepted,\nbut we followed the tour anyway. Although not precisely understanding her we\ncould nevertheless discern her passion for the art on show, and could even tell\nhow eloquently she was advocating the case for the artist and the approach he\nhad taken. We understood when she mentioned more traditional elements of his\nwork such as well-known statues on the island in San Bartolome and Teguise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibits were in a slightly different lay-out than\nwhen we had attended the press conference, with the wall display of some of the\nsmaller items showing them in more \u00b4wrap-around\u00b4 view than when we had seen them\non the floor as they had been previously. The huge, dominating head and life\nbelt model, that had been so much the centrepiece then had now been moved\nslightly off centre on the main floor and that changed our reaction to it, as\nwe noticed how what seemed to be such a human face from the front was almost\nlandscape like from the back, thus saying something thought provoking about Man\nand his relationship with the land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was amazing how many of the works, all either dull,\nstoney grey or boot polish black, somehow seemed to change perspective if you\nlooked at them for any length of time. A baby in a cot became a boot, a crib\nbecame a boat and vice versa and constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So by the time Estefania invited me to ask my first\nquestion I was so fully intrigued as to be slightly confused, and my prepared\nquestions had changed shape and form much as the exhibits had seemed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My therefore suddenly revised first question was \u00b4do\nyou think this art, this exhibition, these pieces reveal an optimistic view of\nthe world?\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Estafania Comojo talks to Norman Warwick
photo by Dee Dutton for all across the arts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4No. I don\u00b4t think so. Not for me,\u00b4 Estefania smiles. \u00b4When speaking with the artist, Rigoberto, he has told me that Sincretismo is an exhibition of two realities working together but actually being very different, one from another. This smaller exhibit here is very special. Beautiful, like it belongs in a museum. This one is made to seem like it might be found in a store or a garage, I think suggesting that is not an optimistic way to speak about society. We are effectively looking at body parts here,\u2026 there is a leg and a head, but it is not a beautiful body. It is aggressive, not in an aesthetically pleasing way, but in a disjointed, dis-located way that does not seem optimistic. And the materials, when we look at them, seem to be fighting us. It is a reality, but not an optimistic one.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find all this fascinating and because Estefania has\njust referred to the nature of some the materials employed by the artist, I ask\nher if she can be more specific about what those materials are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4The materials are easy to work with for the artist,\nbut that is not the most important thing for him, He enjoys the work process\nand that some materials mix well and others don\u00b4t. He likes this stone-like,\neffect that these materials make and how they mix with colour and pigments, but\nfor him the process is the most important aspect of working. Process and end\nproduct are important to him, and here the end product is speaking about the\nblack people of Africa. This offers another point of view on a subject that\nprobably differs from the European point of view. This offers us another point\nof view. We tend not to take into account that they are all living over there\nin that huge country. We are busy thinking about our things. Perhaps we are\nthinking Nike trainers or the coffee in Starbucks. These exhibits are important.\nThey are not things of which we post a photograph on Instagram.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The piece that by its size dominates the exhibition is\na front facial model of a head and twisted body, as trapped by a lifebelt as it\nis aided by it, and I remark that it is an image that reminds us that such\npeople are seeking refuge on the shorelines of Europe, including here on The\nCanary Islands, and is a stark reminder of what they are seeking to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a8Yes. It\u00b4s very traumatic,\u00b4 Estefania agreed. \u00a8The\nother day, in the kind of weather we take for granted over here, I was on\nFamara beach with my boyfriend, and he suggested that the calmness of the sea\nmight tempt refugees to aim for our shores in such conditions. I thought about\nthat, and wondered how I would feel to see them. I wondered whether they would\nbe afraid of me, and how nervous we would all be to face each other.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of such nervous first meetings makes me\nwonder about how many times Estefania even meets new artists with and for whom\nshe is going to be working. I ask her about those meetings, and whether or not\nthey, too, are meetings of the unknown. What does an artist have to do to\nimpress her, I ask, and indeed does it matter whether he impresses her or not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4To impress me? That\u00b4s a strange question. I do know\nthat whether or not I like the artist and his art when we begin working\ntogether, by the end I always love it ! I don\u00b4t know what happens in between\nbut I love the work I do and when an artists is honest and enjoys his work as\nmuch I do mine then we end up with me very much appreciating the art. I think a\nrelationship with a piece of art is sometimes like a personal relationship, and\nremember I often live with pieces of art long after their creator has gone\nhome. I am here with them, learning about them, thinking about them,\u2026.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And do you have conversations with them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Yes I do. I have abstract conversations with them. On\nfirst meeting them I might not understand anything about them, but by listening\nto the artist, and then living with the objects I come to know them a lot\nbetter, even though every day I continue to discover new things about them that\nre-shape my own ideas. Learning is a long and continuous process.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That talk of time passing reminds me that it has been\njust over a year now since we first met Estafania, At that meeting she\ndescribed herself as a freelance artist and curator, but she has mentioned to\nus recently that she has once more returned to studies and is taking a Masters\ndegree. I ask whether that changes the way she thinks of, or describes, herself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Well, I have two new exhibitions scheduled for later\nthis year in The Casa De Culture in Arrecife, as a creator not a curator. The\nfirst one will be in April and is one of portraitures with other young artists\nand the second one may be a joint exhibition with another artist from the\nisland. He is about seventy years old and was a teacher for many years. He\nloves the classic arts and paints figurative work which is quite different in\nstyle from my work. \u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I feel slightly nervous about it, because this kind\nof classicist, figurative work is not for everyone these days. There is a\nthirst for the new, so this will be a challenge. He deserves the exhibition, of\ncourse, and we must remember that society is not only made up young people\ndiscarding old traditions but also has older people who wish to preserve those\ntraditions.\u00b4  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I\u00b4m also still teaching some classes of older people\nand I enjoy doing that as much as I enjoy doing this guide work at exhibitions.\nAnd that is what I mean about constant learning. When I am teaching these older\npeople I might talk about China and its arts and there will be somebody in the class\nwho has been to China and can therefore add so much more to my understanding of,\nas well as my knowledge of, art from that part of the world.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4The man who creates the figurative art is also a\nteacher like me, and he has always wanted to show his work in an exhibition for\nhis students. An artist can\u00b4t just exist in another world. He has to stay\nconnected to the everyday interests of society. With Rigoberto, the artist who\nhas created this exhibitiomat Cic El Almacen, you can even find the two artists\nin one item, and he might say that he creates figurative art because he is\nasked to but he also says that it makes him happy to be able to supply\nsomething that people want. Why not? But an artist or a teacher who wants to create\nsomething bigger for his students might think that doing figurate works helps\nan artist to do that, then I think it is fine. He will, nevertheless, also look\nto create art that challenges the mind, of himself as an artist, and the mind\nof a viewer.\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am left to wonder then whether Estefnia sees it as\npart of her job description, or even as part of her own ethos, to draw into Cic\nEl Almacen those non-traditional audience members who might have never\npreviously dreamed of stepping into an art gallery. Surely she sees it as her\nrole to ensure they come back for future exhibitions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Estefania Comojo
artist and guide<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I think it is important that people love the arts and the artists, but there are only a few artists I know who live on the artist\u00b4s income, in the end, come to realise that the people who come to exhibitions might not be the people who consume real art. The people who do consume real art are living in the big houses that can accommodate big pictures, big statues, big murals. I might never become that person with a big house so I have to find different ways to deliver my art, smaller ways for people to consume my art. There is a danger now that the public might come to consider galleries as sort of artistic theme parks. That is a risk. It is not about whether we have more or less people here. It is important that we can attract those who really want to engage with art, and that we give them something to engage with. That is something I think Rigoberto and Cic El Almacen have done very successfully with this Sincretismo exhibition.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

stefania is a convincing advocate for the arts and a stout proponent of the artists she serves when guiding visitors to the gallery around its exhibitions. Speaking with her is always full of smiles and shared enjoyment of the arts but she nevertheless keeps it real and makes me think. So often she reminds me of something so basic that I am forced to turn my high-flying ideas on their head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call in at Cic El Almacen to check times for public\nviewing and then, when you visit Sincretismo, have a look at everything else\nthat happens in the upstairs, cinema \/ concert hall and in the other parts of\nthe \u00b4warehouse\u00b4 that surround its central feature of a wonderfully buzzing bar\nand restaurant. And if you see any notifications of some walks that Estefania\nmight be taking, put your name down. You won\u00b4t be disappointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHAPING OUR THINKING Sincretismo; press viewing; Cic El Almacen, Arrecife 2020 Cic El Almacen further demonstrate its versatility as an arts centre by hosting a recently-opened, intriguing and thought provoking visual arts exhibition, that will remain in situ until April 25th. Sincretismo, by the Lanzarotean sculptor Rigoberto Camacho, collects his latest production of works, which, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}