Luis Adelantado Valencia is proud to present Idea as Model, a solo exhibition by Irma Álvarez-Laviada (Gijón, 1978). The tittle of the show borrows the name of a 1976 exhibition at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York, where architect Peter Eisenman presented his axonometric model; a theoretical research into the possibilities of the function of the architectural model in which “Eisenman intended to prove that architectural models can be more than a simple recording of a project and that, just like drawings, their existence can be considered independent, regardless of the project being represented by them. Thus Eisenman vindicated the autonomy of the conceptual model as part of the design process rather than a mere tool1”.
Álvarez-Laviada explores this notion of autonomy through a central piece, designed by the architect Aritz González, where as a form of display cabinet dissects the materiality of the works, extending throughout the four floors of the gallery..
In this multidisciplinary installation, the artist’s intention ruminates between the possibilities of dialogue and conflict manifested by the different semantic fields of each material once they are brought into the artistic field. The piece is therefore a continuation of her investigation into the structural elements and self-reference in painting.
It is worth highlighting the incorporation of paper as a new material to explore, approaching painting parameters and returning to concepts of almost palpable emptiness, of the absence of the line, fundamental starting point to the artist; reminding us of the freedom found in traditional mediums seeking an inverted relationship with materials. The artist continues to signified the process towards the work of art through new formalizations, not with the intention of making it disappear but rather extending it to a re-articulation that allows to constitute, to dispose, other meanings from the field of creation.
Idea as Model proposes a procedure in which the gaze, far from remaining in the recognition of objects and/or materials, inquires to complete its way of seeing; it rests its gaze upon them, recognizing their formal qualities, their plasticity, intending to generate a plastic world in which shapes, color, physicality and their meanings intertwine as to inquire which might be the needed image
1 Val Fiel Mónica. Revista Proyecto Progreso Arquitectura N15 Maquetas; La maqueta conceptual en la arquitectura paramétrica: la materialidad digital como icono. Sevilla: Editorial Universidad de Sevilla, 2016. P 140.