Mario García Torres

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Mario García Torres
Born1975
Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico
Alma materCalifornia Institute of the Arts, University of Monterrey
Occupation
  • Artist

Mario García Torres (born 1975 in Monclova, México) is a visual and conceptual artist.[1] He has used various media, including film, sound, performance, ‘museographic installations’ and video as a means to create his art.

Garcia Torres often mentioned untold or ‘minor’ histories, as departing points for his work. He has re-created historical exhibitions and has even ‘completed’ unfinished artworks, often blurring original and reenactment, past and present, while questioning universal ideas about truth, certainty and time –all core ideas in the development of his body of work. During the early 2000s García Torres stopped dating his works; In so doing, he undermines the narrative of an oeuvre and career as a progressive evolution over time. n.d. (no date) often accompanies, since then, the work's title, and has become a signature of the artist.

His work has been shown at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Hammer Museum in Los Ángeles, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam among many others. He has participated in international biennials like the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paolo Biennial and the Documenta in Kassel. His work is collected by institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Guggenheim Museums; the Tate Modern in London; and the Pompidou Center in Paris.

Biography

Mario García Torres was born in the Mexican city of Monclova in 1975.[2] The interest of Mario Garcia Torres for art started a very young age, as he accompanied his mother in their hometown's museum, where she volunteered as a guide.[3] He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Monterrey in Mexico in 1998.[2][4] While a student in Monterrey, he started getting interested in conceptual art.[5] García Torres cited a group of his professors that were linked with American abstract expressionism as an influence in that direction.[5] Before continuing his studies in the United States, and earned his Master of Fine Arts by the California Institute of the Arts in 2005, as a Fulbright grantee, the artist worked as an "electronic arts curator" at the Museo Carrillo Gil in México City.[6] In 2007 he received the Cartier Award at the Frieze Art Fair.[7][8] He is a member of the Artists Board of SOMA -a Mexico City arts organization.

Early work

The work that first attracted attention to the artist negotiated obscure events associated with conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s, with the use of a variety of media.[9] His early work, based on past events around the history of conceptual art, tried to create new ideas and meanings through them.[10] García Torres used minor events for the creation of his narratives, as he believed that "some of them still have the potential to trigger questions both regarding their own nature, and regarding historiography".[11]

In "In Some Places I Had Seen Before Moving to L.A.", he presents locations around L.A. in an attempt to reproduce the image he had about the city, based in what he saw in films or conceptual art works.[12] His first solo exhibition in the United States presented "What Happens in Halifax Stays in Halifax".[13] It was triggered during a conversation about art concepts with Jan Mot,[14] and was initiated as a historic research project covering a 1969 art project which was assigned to NSCAD University students in David Askevold's class by artist Robert Barry.[11] García Torres' work consisted of black and white slides and produced a reunion of the 1969 project class.[11][13]

García Torres' Share-e-Nau Wanderings (A Film Treatment) was the artist's first attempt to approach the life and work of Alighiero Boetti, by creating a series of fictitious fax sheets, describing García Torres' imaginary trip in Kabul.[15][16]

The project would occupy seven years of research and the production of a number of works. "¿Alguna vez has visto la nieve caer?" is a 50-minute slide show of black and white photographs of Kabul, taken by as anonymous photographers, and accompanied by sound.[17] The project comprised photographs taken in the seventies, but the artist placed his work after the September 11 attacks, in an attempt to mingle different times and trigger the audience to question what it sees.[17] With "Tea", García Torres documents in film his journey to One Hotel, the hotel operated by Alighiero Boetti in Kabul, further exploring his knowledge of Kabul and Boetti while tackling the also tense political climate in his own country. This was an important part of his contribution to Documenta 13.[18][19][20]

With "Je ne sais si c'en est la cause", and "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger" García Torres gave documentation for two past works:

trailer, which was presented in Skulptur Projekte Münster since 1977.[23]

"Unspoken Dailies", is a 66-minute feature film, showing actor Diego Luna reading the film's script written by García Torres for the first time while being filmed in an artist studio in Mexico City.[24]

Monologues and lectures

In 2007, Garcia Torres created what would become the first of a number of theater monologues. Alan Smithee, the pseudonym directors used to disown projects they were dissatisfied with, is personified in "I am not a Flopper".[25] The work is a monologue which García Torres co-wrote with philosopher Aaron Schuster, and is an effort to discuss created and invented concepts.[25] I am not a Flopper was first presented as a stage piece in London where played the character. Years later it was presented as a video work at the Hammer Museum, where David Dastmalchian did the monologue.[26]

In 2015, inspired by

confused mind" according to Noemi Smolik.[29]

In 2012, García Torres presented a working version of "Have You Ever Seen the Snow",

Documenta 13
, Kassel.

"Five Feet High and Rising", is a work in the form of a

Art Basel Miami Beach.[32]

As his participation to "An Inquiry: Modes of Encounter", an exhibition at the Times Museum, in

Artificial Intelligence character. The project was made in collaboration with the Chinese tech company Sogou.[33]
In the video piece, the avatar speaks randomly as if she has been left alone at a live TV news broadcast.

Other lectures that are considered works of art are "Like You, I Dig, I Dig In, I Dig Into, and I Dig Up Art Too",

Resonances in the Terrestrial Atmosphere", a "performatic lecture" made in collaboration with artist and musician Sol Oosel, and presented at the Torcuato di Tella University, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[35]

Museographic essays

In 2014 Garcia Torres started creating what he called "museographical essays"; large installations in which a very diverse number of objects and media are included. "R.R. and the Expansion of the Tropics" is a narrative of the last three decades in South Florida, combining elements on social issues in the area, climate change, and Robert Rauschenberg.[36] An earlier work of this type was his contribution to the 2014 Berlin Biennial, for which he displayed a large number of elements in an underground room at the Ethnologistches Museum surrounding the work and legacy of musician Conlon Nancarrow. "Sounds Like Isolation to Me" also included a collaboration with Berlin pianist Nils Frahm.[37]

"The Party Was Yesterday (But Nobody Remembers It)" was an atmospheric display created by García Torres where the memory of the events that conformed the little-known Mexican Museo Dinámico (Dynamic Museum -not to be confused with the

Manuel Felguerez, Lilia Carrillo and Vicente Rojo.[38]

For "The Strange Things My Eyes See" the artist created an exhibition in the ruins of a utopian building designed and built in the 1980s by Agustín Hernández Navarro in Santa María Ahuacatitlán, México. Upon entering the derelict space, visitors encountered a scene with a number of objects, elements that had originally been part of the building itself, transformed into bronze. Regarded by the artist as "a conceptual framework",[39] it constituted a subtle intervention that suspended notions of perception and the laws of physics. The project prompted the German gallery neugerriemschneider to open a temporary satellite space in México.[40]

Music

Although he does not consider himself a composer,[41] music has had a recurrent presence in García Torres’ practice over the past two decades. According to Caroline Dumalin he "uses sound to transmit ideas, and also examines its circulation, exploring the social and geopolitical circumstances that have influenced its particular resonance in a given time and place."[42] In 2004 he published "I Promise Every Time" –a collaboration with Mexican musician Mario López Landa, which was released by White Cube Gallery as a CD.[43] It is the musical version of an older work, which consists of a written vow in which the artist pledged to "do his best as an artist".[44]

From then on, he went on to collaborate with a long list of musicians, in order to record music for films and installations, often taking the role of lyricist and producer.

Schlieren Plot" (2015), "We Make the Weather" (2014) and "Silence's Wearing Thin Here" (2018).[46]

In 2019 García Torres presented "Falling Together in Time"

Mohammad Ali with the development a number of popular songs surrounding Van Halen's 1983 hit "Jump".[48] The 2004 video work "The Call Them Border Blasters" the artist had also used a popular song "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo "to make evident the social and political context of the northern Mexican states" through music.[49]

Mid-career surveys

In 2016, a mid-career survey of García Torres’ work was held at the Museo Rufino Tamayo and in three other venues in Mexico City. Theoretically, the works in the show were exhibited in the geographic area that would be covered if you would superimposed the Museo de Arte Sacramento -a "museum without walls" in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, conceived by the artist between 2002 and 2004- over a section of the city. According to Leslie Moody Castro "Within this fantastically complex exhibition, Garcia Torres blurs any standards regarding linear time or functional space, ultimately offering an opportunity to reconsider our understanding of reality".[50]"Let's Walk Together" was curated by Sofia Hernández Chong-Cuy.

"Illusion Brought Me Here" -García Torres's first US survey held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in 2018 highlighted the artist as both researcher and storyteller, exploring the impulses that produce artistic thought. Encompassing the galleries, the Bentson Mediatheque, and the Walker Cinema, the presentation features 45 works created over the past two decades as well as site-specific installations conceived exclusively for the Walker. The show traveled the year after to Wiels in Brussels were the Mexican artist presented, among a number of other works, his own abridged version of a retrospective: a new sound piece entitled "Silence's Wearing Thin Here" (n.d.), composed of voices and soundtracks from his earlier works. "Illusion Brought Me Here" was curated by Vincenzo de Bellis and Caroline Dumalin.[51][52]

In 2021, “The Poetics of Return” opened at the

movie spoilers are written on; a silent and almost motionless performance where Xoco, The Kid Who Loved Being Bored is the only character, and the performatic-lecture “We Shall Not Name This Feeling” in collaboration with musician and artist Sol Oosel.[53]

COVID-19 pandemic

During the

Anahuacalli in the country's capital.[55][56]

In September 2021, “It Must Have Been a Tuesday” a work by Garcia Torres was presented at the Unlimited section of Art Basel, in Switzerland.[57] The work consists of 164 letter-size photocopies pasted onto linen on stretchers equating the number of days the artist's studio was closed during the first pandemic lockdown in México City. The work begins with an otherwise blank page where the text ‘Cerrado temporalmente’ -Spanish for ‘temporarily closed’ is written and which they artist affixed to his studio door. The second piece is a photocopy of the original sign and all following pieces repeat the act of coping and posting it on the studio door every day until the studio could be reopened. The increasing distortion produced by the machine the text becomes progressively illegible resulting in the gradual breakdown of the message and the creation of an abstract composition.

Curatorial

A

curatorial practice has sporadically appeared in the work of Mario Garcia Torres through his career. His first known exercises happened in 1999 in Monterrey where he curated “Fit Inn”,[58] a group exhibition hosted in a cheap downtown hotel. As institutional curator at the Museo Carrillo Gil in Mexico City he curated solo presentations of Iñaki Bonillas, Olía Lialina and Arcángel Constantini; a number of exhibitions that involved sound, video and net.art like “nuevapropiedadcultural.html” and “CTRL+C / CTRL+V”;[59] as well as a large group exhibition titled “Inconveniences are Temporal, Improvements are Permanent” which happened simultaneously with the renovation of the museum floor the show occupied.[60] In 2002, he curated a group show at OPA (Oficina de Proyectos de Arte) in Guadalajara which was an essential part of the FITAC (Foro Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo) he had organized in Mexico City that same year.[61][62] In 2008, he curated "The Title Of This Show Is A List That Includes The Dates In Which Each Of The Exhibited Works Were First Made, The Dates In Which Some Of Them Were Remade By The Artists And The Dates In Which They Were Last Shown" at Jan Mot, Brussels, which included works of Stephen Kaltenback, William Anastasi, Eduardo Costa and Dan Graham.[63] The work of David Askevold, Alighiero Boetti, Luis Camnitzer, Barry Le Va and Francesc Torres was curated by Garcia Torres in 2010 in an exhibition held at Elba Benitez in Madrid.[64] Inhabiting a blurry space between curatorial work and his own work, during 2017 the artist presented “The Party Was Yesterday, and Noboby Remembers Anything” (La fiesta fue ayer y nadie recuerda nada) a presentation surrounding the early 1960s short-lived Museo Dinámico at Archivo;[65] and an 8-hour film-marathon at the Massimo Cinema in Turin as part of his solo show at the Galleria Franco Noero.[66] In 2020 he curated “The Last Tenant” an exhibition of both artworks and collectible design for MASA gallery in Mexico City.[67]

List of exhibitions

García Torres has exhibited his work in innumerable number of museums and biennales around the world, both in solo and collective exhibitions.[6][68][69]

Individual exhibitions
Group exhibitions and biennials

Public collections

Monographic publications

  • Mario Garcia Torres. Illusion Brought Me Here. Edited by Vincenzo de Bellis and Caroline Dumalin with contributions from Sophie Berrebi, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Rulo David, Vincenzo de Bellis, Caroline Dumalin, and Tom McDonough. Published by Walker Art Center, Wiels, Koenig Books, London[70]
  • Mario García Torres: An Arrival Tale. Edited by Daniela Zyman and Cory Scozzari. Contributions by Armen Avanessian, Daniel Garza-Usabiaga, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Anke Hennig, Chus Martínez, Eva Wilson, Daniela Zyman. Published by TBA21, Vienna and Sternberg Press[71]
  • Mario Garcia Torres. Caminar juntos (Let's Walk Together) Edited by Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy with contributions by Luis Jorge Boone and Mario. Published by INBAL[72]
  • Mario Garcia Torres A Few Questions Regarding the Hesitance at Choosing Between Bringing a Bottle of Wine or a Bouquet of Flowers (100 Notes - 100 Thoughts). Published by Hatje Cantz[73]
  • Mario Garcia Torres Date Due. Published by Kadist.[74]

References

  1. ^ "Mario García Torres ¿Alguna vez has visto la nieve caer?". Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b Smith Lake, Kendal (22 January 2015). "The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Presents FOCUS: Mario García Torres". The Modern. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  3. ^ Sánchez, Ivonne (3 April 2009). "Mario García Torres: arte, reflexión y emociones" (in Spanish). rfi Español. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Sounds Like Isolation to Me, Mario García Torres at Proyecto Siqueiros: La Tallera, Cuernavaca, Mexico". Art Elsewhere. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  5. ^ a b Toledo, Manuel (27 March 2008). "El museo abstracto de Coahuila" (in Spanish). BBC Mundo. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Hammer Projects: Mario Garcia Torres". Hammer Museum. 13 September 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  7. ^ Knapp, Jonathan L. (20 February 2009). "MATRIX 227: Mario Garcia Torres". e-flux. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  8. ^ "My Westphalia Days by Mario Garcia Torres". The Art Fund. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  9. ^ "FOCUS: Mario García Torres". The Modern. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  10. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres". White Cube. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  11. ^ a b c "CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts Opens The Exhibition Formerly Known as Passengers: 2.11 Mario Garcia Torres". artdaily.org. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  12. ^ Ting, Selina. "Interview : Mario Garcia Torres". initiArt Magazine. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  13. ^ a b "What Happens in Halifax Stays in Halifax". BAM/PFA. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  14. ^ "What Happened in Halifax: An Interview with Mario Garcia Torres". JohnMenick.com. 26 September 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  15. ^ Lucarelli, Fosco (19 August 2013). "The Boetti lesson (Searching for One Hotel in Kabul): Mario García Torres's "Have you Ever Seen the Snow?"". Socks Studio. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  16. ^ "Mario García Torres Share-e-Nau Wanderings (A Film Treatment), 2006". Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  17. ^ a b "Mario García Torres busca el pasado a través de la fotografía" (in Spanish). El Informador. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  18. ^ McDonough, Tom. "1000 WORDS: MARIO GARCÍA TORRES". Artforum. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Calendar: Film Screening: Tea by Mario Garcia Torres". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  20. ^ Tagliafierro, Marco. "Mario García Tores MUSEO MADRE". Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  21. ^ Fitzpatrick, Chris (13 April 2009). "Reference Material: Mario Garcia Torres in Conversation". Art in America Magazine. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  22. ^ Hilder, Jamie. "Reading Mario García Torres at the Berkeley Art Museum". fillip.ca. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  23. ^ Pellatt, Corey (11 July 2012). "Towner presents major UK premiere of international contemporary art". SQmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  24. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres "Unspoken Dailies"". Taki Ishi Gallery. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  25. ^ a b "Mario Garcia Torres". ARTFORUM. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  26. ^ Exposito, Frank. "Mario Garcia Torres discusses his work at the Hammer Museum". Artforum.
  27. ^ "Performance: The Causality of Hesitance". Walker Art Center. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  28. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres". Frieze. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  29. ^ Smolik, Noemi. "Mario García Torres". Artforum. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  30. ^ "Artists on Artists Lecture Series - Mario Garcia Torres on Alighiero e Boetti". Youtube. DIA Art Foundation. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  31. ^ "Mario García Torres: Fife Feet High & Rising". TBA21. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  32. ^ "Salon Discussion Constructive Art Criticism in Latin America: Realities and Challenges". Youtube. Art Basel. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  33. ^ Ciric, Biljana (10 December 2019). "A MONOLOGUE FOR A MONOTONE SPEAKER". Nero. Nero Magazine. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  34. ^ García Torres, Mario. "Like You..." Vimeo. LUMA Westbau. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  35. ^ "Demostraciones prácticas de sistemas cuánticos únicos como mecanismos para producir resonancias en la atmósfera terrestre". Arte Informado. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  36. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres R.R. and the Expansion of the Tropics". e-flux.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  37. ^ "8th Berlin Biennale, Sounds Like Isolation to Me". Nils Frahm. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  38. ^ "The party was yesterday". Domus. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  39. ^ Garcia Torres, Mario. "The Strange Things My Eyes See". Neugerriemschneider, Berlin/Mexico 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  40. ^ neugerriemschneider. "mario garcía torres the strange things my eyes see". Daily Art Fair. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  41. ^ Vidal, Mariana (16 February 2018). "Presentamos el video fuera de serie de Sol Oosel". Local. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
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  43. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres". White Cube. White Cube Gallery. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  44. ^ Ramos, Filipa. "Mario Garcia Torres' "I Will Be with You Shortly" at Peep-Hole, Milan". Art Agenda. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  45. ^ "The Schlieren Plot". Bandcamp. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  46. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres". Spotify. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  47. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres Falling Together in Time". Taka Ishii Gallery.
  48. ^ "Frieze Projects: Mario Garcia Torres". Frieze. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  49. ^ "Mario García Torres y Stefan Brüggemann en Proyectos Monclova". Revista Codigo. Codigo. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
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  51. ^ "Mario García Torres: Illusion Brought Me Here". Walker Art Center. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  52. ^ "Mario García Torres: Illusion Brought Me Here". Wiels. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  53. ^ "The Poetics of Return". MARCO. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  54. ^ "Mario Garcia Torres, Solo". e-flux. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  55. ^ MacMasters, Merry (8 August 2020). "Museos Uno en Uno propone que se abra el recinto para un solo visitante". La Jornada. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  56. ^ Acosta, Camilla. "Museo Frida Kahlo Launches Mexico's Groundbreaking New 'Museums One In One' Program". BlackBook. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  57. ^ "It Must Have Been a Tuesday". Art Basel. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  58. ^ Martinez, Teresa. "Referente del Arte Conceptual". No. June 20, 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  59. ^ "Exposiciones anteriores". Museo Carrillo Gil. INBA. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  60. ^ "Las molestias son temporales, las mejoras permanentes". e-flux. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  61. ^ "Oficina para Proyectos de Arte". Patronato de Arte Contemporáneo. PAC. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  62. ^ Aznarez, Juan Jesus. "La feria de arte de Mexico se consolida". El País. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  63. ^ "71,72,73" (PDF). Newspaper Jan mot (August–October 2008). August–October 2008.
  64. ^ Abadía, Montserrat (20 October 2012). "LAS ESTRUCTURAS DEL ARTE". A Desk Critical Thinking. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  65. ^ "The party was yesterday". Domus. 24 February 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  66. ^ "Mario García Torres "When Time Lost Its Patience" at Franco Noero Gallery, Turin". Mousse Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  67. ^ Englefield, Jane (26 March 2021). "Mario García Torres curates design exhibition in Mexico City house". Dezeen. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  68. ^ "FOCUS: Mario García Torres at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth". Daily Serving. 17 May 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  69. ^ "Poor Art – Rich Legacy. Arte Povera and parallel practices 1968–2015". Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  70. ^ "Mario García Torres: Illusion Brought Me Here". Walker Art Center.
  71. ^ "An Arrival Tale". Sternberg Press.
  72. ^ "Mario García Torres. Caminar juntos. Let's walk together. : Luis Jorge Boone : 9786076054079". Book Depository.
  73. ^ Mario Garcia Torres a Few Questions Regarding the Hesitance at Choosing between Bringing a Bottle of Wine or a Bouquet of Flowers | ARTBOOK 9783775728751. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  74. ^ "Date Due". kadist.org. 1 September 2007.

External links

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