On the occasion of the first solo exhibition of Ignacio Uriarte, Galleria Gentili presents his new series of works, Sequential Drawings, which continues his investigation into service sector production methods, forms of work routines and the opportunities for their artistic representation. Through the use of actual office work tools and methods, the artist detects the aesthetic of minimal creative episodes in the paperwork of an employee – like the impromptu doodle on a notebook or the pure plasticity of a crumpled sheet of paper - connoting an energy that is almost subversive, showing resistance to the monotony of daily work.

From a formal point of view, his works recall the minimalist and conceptual art of the 1970s. By placing the emphasis on mass production manufacturing and the alienation of the worker, Uriarte detects a coincidence between the services sector of the capitalist system of the post- ord era and the loss of primacy of the artistic object in those same years. Even the narrow range of instruments and techniques used, such as the use of only the four “primary” commercial colours of Bic ballpoint pens, reflects this reductionist tendency.

The intensely manual nature of the work in this exhibition, as in the series of drawings on paper From Pencil to Pen, on the one hand reproposes the repetitiveness of gestures, as if to give the viewer a visual idea of the alienating process of work, and on the other, marks a difference between the value of human labour and mere mechanical reproduction.

Ignacio Uriarte was born in Krefeld, Germany, in 1972. After studying business administration he worked for big companies in Germany, Spain and Mexico. From 1998 to 2001 he studied audiovisuals art in Guadalajara, Mexico, and quitted his administrative job in 2003 to fully dedicate himself to art reaserch. Among the museum wich have hosted his recent solo show are included the CGAC of Santiago de Compostela (2007), MUSAC of Leon (2008), Centro Huarte de Arte Contemporaneo in Pamplona (2008) and Sala Rekalde di Bilbao (2011). His work has been acquired by major collections as La Caixa of Barcelona, Musac of Leon, Jumex Collection of Mexico City and Frac Piemonte in Turin. From 2007 he lives and works in Berlin.

During the opening Ugnacio Uriarte will present also his last artist book 360°, Ed. Automatic Books

Galleria Gentili
Via del Carmine 11/13
59100 Prato
Italia
Tel.: +39 0574 606986
Fax.: +39 0574 443704
info@galleriagentili.it
www.galleriagentili.it