Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa Exhibition at grunt gallery
Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa lives and works in Berlin and Guatemala City. He was born in Guatemala City in 1978 and immigrated to Vancouver in the early 1980’s. In 2006 he received a BFA in Media Arts from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and, in 2008, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was also a postgraduate researcher at Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 2013. He has had recent solo exhibitions at CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain de Bordeaux; DAAD Galerie, Berlin (2017); and Gasworks, London (2015). Group exhibitions include São Paulo Biennial, Venice Biennale; LACMA, Los Angeles (2017); Lyon Biennial; and EFA Project Space, New York (2015). He has participated in performance series at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2017); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2016); and Tate Modern, London (2015). In recognition of his achievement, Ramírez-Figueroa was awarded the Mies van der Rohe Award (2017); and a DAAD fellowship (2015-16). [gallery type="slideshow" size="large" link="none" ids="7627,7626,7625,7624,7623,7622,7616,7615,7614,7610,7613" orderby="rand"]
The object-based photos are mostly from the video Linnaeus in Tenebris (2017), and watch if the filename says "Linnaeus ", the more body images of Naufus are from the video Mimesis of Mimesis (2016)
Vancouver B.C. – grunt gallery will host a solo exhibition by Guatemalan-Canadian artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa. Requiem for Mirrors and Tigers mark the artist’s first solo presentation in Vancouver since he left the city to pursue an international art education and career.The gallery is pleased to welcome back this artist who made a deep imprint in the Vancouver arts scene through his performance work at Gallery Gachet, grunt gallery, LIVE International Performance Art Biennale and VIVO Media Art Centre, and has since presented work at the Guggenheim, Tate Modern and Venice Biennale.Working in drawing, performance, sculpture, and video, Ramírez-Figueroa explores the entanglement of history and form through the lens of his own displacement during and following Guatemala’s Civil War of 1960–96. Borrowing from the languages of folklore, science fiction, and theatre, he reframes historical events and protagonists.In late February grunt gallery revealed an exhibition and accompanying book featuring Ramírez-Figueroa’s recent performance works captured on moving images through the If I Can’t Dance Amsterdam project. A total of six media pieces will be displayed in a retrospective of the artist’s works. These videos will be featured at grunt gallery for the Capture Photography Festival.The series, produced over the past two years, features a series of interrelated performances produced for the camera in different spaces. The artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa along with If I Can’t Dance Amsterdam’s curator, Susan Gibbs, will be visiting for the launch of the organization’s new book and to do a talk about collaboration for project’s series and about producing films featuring artists working solo or with an ensemble in an ethereal series of performances. The exhibit will be viewable by the public on February 22 at 12 PM and closes on April 21. These works will allow Vancouver audiences to see the newest work by this always, enthralling artist, and the audience will also have the opportunity to meet the artist and curator in April 2018.
1) Illusion of Matter (2015) 27 mins, 54 sec
2) Linnaeus in Tenebris (2017) 18 mins 40 secs
3) Print of Sleep (2016) 17 mins, 43 secs
4) Mimesis of Mimesis (2016) 5 min, 31secs
5) Fino Fantasma (2017) 8 mins, 23 secs
6) Life in His Mouth, Death Cradles Her Arm (2016) 5 mins, 56 secs
In Requiem, Ramírez-Figueroa uses his body and direct action to create a series of images related to the history of the Guatemalan Civil War. Approaching the Civil War from a personal perspective, he has softened these images through abstraction and humor, while attempting to use the intensity of the performance schedule to push beyond the immense force of the collective and inscribed memory of the war’s history. Beyond the live performances, the cycle of works form a collection of videos.A panel will also be held at SFU’s Audain Gallery, located in SFU Woodwards at 149 West Hastings Street, on February 22 from 7–9 PM with Alma Ruiz, Sabeth Buchmann, and Peter Dickinson called Performing Intertextuality. The panel will discuss Naufus’ forthcoming project next year, Corazón del espantapájaros (Heart of the Scarecrow) (2019), and Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens' When the Guests Are Not Looking (Jan 20-Feb 17).
Exhibition Date/Time: February 22 - April 21st, 2018
Location: grunt gallery #116 350 – East 2nd Ave, Vancouver B.C.
ARTIST: Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa
CURATOR: Susan Gibb
FACILITATED BY: Glenn Alteen
Requiem for Mirrors and Tigers is a series of six documented video performances by Guatemalan artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa. This series is based on interrelated performances and were produced for the camera in different places.Requiem for Mirrors and Tigers was commissioned by Corpus Network and headed by, If I Can’t Dance Amsterdam, the series features the artist working solo or with an ensemble in an ethereal series of performances. These works will be featured at grunt for Capture Photography Festival and this exhibition will allow Vancouver Audiences to see the newest work by this always enthralling artist.
There is Book Launch on the evening of April 5th 6 pm - 8 pm with Susan Gibb, Curator & Frédérique Bergholtz, Director- If I Can’t Dance Amsterdam and artist, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa. If I Can’t Dance is putting a book out called Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa: Requiem for Mirrors and Tigers. The book features an essay by: Frédérique Bergholtz and Susan Gibb. It is published by: If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution in partnership with Bom Dia Books. it will be offered at the event.