BASTA!

The exhibition Basta! focuses on current artistic practices coming out of Latin America – especially those dealing with the interplay of art and life addressing harsh aspects of reality. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication that features the works included in Basta! by Latin American artists Iván Argote (Colombia), Marcelo Cidade (Brazil), Regina José Galindo (Guatemala), Aníbal Lopez (Guatemala), Teresa Margolles (Mexico), José Carlos Martinat (Peru), Yucef Merhi (Venezuela), Alice Miceli (Brazil), Mondongo (Juliana Laffitte and Manuel Mendanha - Argentina), Moris (Mexico), Armando Ruiz (Colombia), Giancarlo Scaglia (Peru), Javier Téllez (Venezuela), and Juan Toro (Venezuela). They address topics such as crime, vandalism, transgression, gender-based violence, illegal immigration, drug cartels and state power. The publication also has insightful essays on the subject of art and violence by scholars and curators Claudia Calirman, Isabela Villanueva, Estrellita B. Brodsky, and Cecilia-Fajardo Hill. In order to expose existing mechanisms of injustice, violence, and inequality, the Latin American artists featured in Basta! bring their own experiences and responses to diverse forms of crime, brutality, and exploitation. By blurring the lines between legality and illegality, crime and justice, they are interested in the effects of the remains of violence. Their practices can be viewed as a remembrance of horrific deeds, an act against indifference and forgetting brutality. They follow the traces and vestiges left by violence, so the reminiscences of the events don't disappear. In most cases they are torn between the desire to depict traumatic events, and the recognition that it is not possible to render them in fullness by its mere visual representation. The exhibition included a symposium where they discussed responses to art and violence in Latin America today. The challenge is how to render brutality in the visual arts without adding more dismay to it. For more information please contact The Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery at 212 237 1439. The gallery hours are from Monday to Friday, from 1 to 5 pm.