Rotation (Moiré, Rome)

2012 - Photography (Photography)

115 x 156 cm

Asier Mendizabal

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Rotation presents the image of a crowd, a re-appropriation of 19th or beginning of 20th century photographs published in newspapers and magazines. This artwork is composed of the same image repeated four times with different resolutions. The last image in Rotation is less focused than the original one. These pictures are low-angle shots, in a way that the subject is seen as part of a group rather than as an isolated person. This work denies the individual subject but also highlights the symbolic force of the masses. The representation of crowds is a good means to highlight the way ideology creates forms. The photographic montage strategy – which is a process introduced by modernity – reveals an aspect of accumulation as well as fragmentation and destruction. Going from the top right to the bottom right, the image fades into becoming almost illegible and only the outline of the impression remains; as if identity whether it is national, political or ethnic was too difficult or impossible to represent. This is a reference to popular culture and a reflection on collective gestures, the survival of rituals and the creation of a social landscape.

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Asier Mendizabal explores political subjects and their symbols. His work is based on a formalist approach using abstract forms which recall Russian constructivism in painting, in sculpture as well as in cinema. He rethinks the relations between abstraction and the representation of politics. He was born in 1973 in the Basque Country and he uses the history of Basque politics as a background for his work.

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Colors:

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• popular.s.04
• disintegrate.v.01
• social_group.n.01
• repetition.n.02
• crowd.n.01
• ritual.n.01