Almale and Bondia. on-site Hamilton Finley. See Poussin, hear Lorrain, 2010
The following comes to mind for all of us when imagining a art Gallery: a open space with White walls, paintings and sculptures arranged in order by period, artistic movement or author –with the corresponding explanatory sign next to it–, and a window that lets in natural light.
The neighborhoods of Chamberí , Las Salesas , Salamanca or the famous Doctor Fourquet street are home to these spaces on the ground floor which, together with the great museums, constitute an inexhaustible source of culture and inspiration.
But art lovers, restless by nature and dissatisfied by habit, always want more: originality, variety, surprises. Thus, many exhibitions now occupy the walls of legendary restaurants and bars -like the Cock-, particular houses in Malasaña –as La Causa–, hotel lobbies, stately courtyards, garages and even subway stops.
And just when we thought we had seen it all... we discovered APgAllery , a gallery in the middle of the Segovian countryside, specifically in Martin Muñoz de Ayllón, a small town of just 20 inhabitants belonging to the municipality of Riaza and the route of the red and black towns of Segovia.
Art and Landscape come together in APgallery
A DREAM BUILT STONE BY STONE
Enrique Herrada and Marta Corn They are a couple of architects with a soul divided between the big city and nature. That is why one day they decided to find a corner where they could disconnect from the world.
They were visiting towns and villages until a detour took them to Martín Muñoz de Ayllón. It was…just perfect.
"At first I felt like an urbanite incapable of perceiving," says Enrique, to which he surprised how the locals perceived everything around him as an inexhaustible source of information.
"I realized there was another way of being in the world, see it at another speed and in another way, ”he continues.
Zoom In, Maider López
There they built three houses with views of the mountains, which Enrique baptized as “meadow parasites”. Finally, they also bought the meadow so that no one would build there and be able to contemplate that canvas forever when looking out the window.
“We design and build everything from scratch”, comments Enrique, and since then it has become our refuge.
"One day we decided to create APgallery, in the house next door, so that it would also have these wonderful views," he says.
The views from APgallery
ART MEET THE LANDSCAPE
A and P, 'Art and Landscape'. Two words that summarize the surrounding philosophy of this gallery where the contemplation of the work is conceived as a comprehensive experience.
It is about doing an exercise of perception of contemporary art that is an intellectual and sensory experience, associated at all times with the landscape.
After the first contact with the work comes the most important task of the viewer: interpret. “These facilities provide attention and restlessness, achieving the focus of the gaze and the concentration on what we have in front of us”, explains Enrique.
Everything here consists of learn to look And here the meaning that Paul Klee applies to the world of art becomes especially relevant: "The value of art does not lie in its ability to represent the visible, but in its ability to make the invisible visible."
Thus, art acts as a sort of seeker in the landscape, seeker of all that we are contemplating but have not yet discovered.
Nature inside and outside the gallery
TRACEED: THE SUMMER OF APGALLERY
Of July 14 to September 30 2018, APgallery will host the exhibition PLOTTED, curated by Myriam Anlló and made up of the series 'Zoom In' by Maider Lopez and the projects 'In Situ' and 'False recognition' of Almale and Bondia.
“In the case of Maider, it is a proposal more didactic and collaborative. Almalé and Bondía is more magical in the sense that the artist proposes something and the one who perceives it is the one who interprets and completes it”, Enrique points out.
Zoom In, Maider López
** ALMALÉ AND BONDÍA: FANTASY OR REALITY?**
The first thing you ask yourself when looking at the work of Javier Almalé (Zaragoza, 1969) and Jesús Bondía (Zaragoza), 1952 is what exactly you are seeing: is it the landscape? is it a painting? is it a mirror?
"It's about working on a natural landscape, introducing the hand of man," comment the artists. In his photographs of the series ‘In Situ’ the landscape is deconstructed when reflected on the mirrors.
The Pyrenees It was the stage chosen to mount their works, in which they assemble a composition of mirrors of different sizes and moldings, achieving a result between reality and imagination. In short, a fragmented and altered vision that requires an external interpretation.
'False recognition', on the other hand, contains photographs of imaginary constructions in which the landscape is divided and is represented on itself.
“The natural space becomes landscape when there is a look”, summary Almalé and Bondía.
In Situ, Almalé and Bondía
** MAIDER LÓPEZ: PLAYING WITH COLORS**
The work of the artist Maider López (San Sebastian, 1975) 'Zoom In', transports us to the mountains and valleys of Cappadocia in a game consisting of creating a pantone of the territory in collaboration with students from the Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University Painting Department.
Maider represents the landscape through colored tiles similar to those of the terrain: yellow for mountains, gray for stones or green for vegetation.
For this, samples were taken in situ of the ranges and then pigments were developed by elaborating this reference system.
"It's like capturing the essence of a place," comments Myriam, curator of the exhibition.
Zoom In, Maider López
Both Maider López and Almalé and Bondía also propose a dialogue with the forest through two videos: ' Basoa' and 'Dar a ver'. The first, from the Zaragoza duo, understands nature from concealment while the second does so from discovery.
The most natural art gallery is waiting for you at the end of an unpaved road with views of the Segovian landscape. The perfect artistic and disconnection getaway!
false recognition. Almale and Bondia