Frankfurt am Main | 14 – 22 October 2023
Maelstrom is a work of abstract expressionism, but instead of using brushes, a custom-made algorithm splatters paint-like forms on a screen. In lieu of paint, the abstract compositions are created with press photographs of the day. These images slide into the screen before dissolving into a dripping abstraction. Faces of political leaders melt before our eyes; national flags used in press conferences provide distinctive color hues to the composition; crowds in demonstrations also succumb to the eroding effect of the algorithm. The generative artwork conjures diverse art-historical references: Turner, Clyfford Still, Francis Bacon or Baselitz come to mind, as do many others key members of the Abstract Art family. Maelstrom’s constantly mutating painting remains forever unfinished: the news of the moment covers the item that came just before. Layer after layer, the endless painting captures the ephemerality of news cycles, and of life itself. Just like mid-century painters responded to the trauma of the Second World War, Maelstrom captures the emotional disquiet of our times. The unrest produced by the incessant bombardment of 24/7 news often leaves us numb and paralyzed. Maelstrom is the artist’s attempt to process our times with the unlikely merging of press photography, algorithms and the history of painting.

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Director

Director

  • Daniel Canogar

    Born in Madrid (1964) to a Spanish father and an American mother, Daniel Canogar’s life and career have bridged between Spain and the U.S. Photography was his earliest medium of choice, receiving a M.A. from NYU at the International Center of photography in 1990, but he soon became interested in the possibilities of the projected image and installation art. He has created public art installations with LED screens, including Dynamo, a site- specific audiovisual project designed for the Spanish Pavilion in Dubai Expo 2020 (Dubai, 2021). Currents a suspended artwork in the atrium of the renovated Evangelische Bank (Kassel, 2020). Aqueous at The Sobrato Organization (Mountain View, CA, 2019). Pulse, at Zachry Engineering Education Complex in Texas A&M University (College Station, TX, 2018).

    Tendril for Tampa International Airport (Tampa, FL, 2017) and Cannula, Xylem and Gust II at BBVA Bank Headquarters (Madrid, 2018). He has also created public monumental artworks in different mediums such as Oculus a generative animation features on Novartis Pavillon zero-media façade (Basel, Switzerland, 2022). Brushstrokes a screen installation for DeKa Bank’s lobby (Frankfurt, Germany, 2022).Bifurcation, a multi-laser projection at Noor Riyadh Light & Art Festival (Riyadh, 2021). Amalgama Phillips (Washington D.C., 2021) and Amalgama El Prado (Madrid,2019), generative video-projections projected on the Phillips Collection and the Museo Nacional del Prado façades’ and created with the painting collections of both institutions. Fulgurations, a project in collaboration with the Spanish National Cancer Research Center - CNIO (Madrid, 2021). Bifurcation, a multi-laser projection for the Noor Riyadh Light & Art Festival (Riyadh, 2021). Constellations, the largest photo-mosaic in Europe created for two pedestrian bridges over the Manzanares River, in Madrid Río Park (Madrid, 2010) and Asalto, a series of video-projections presented on various emblematic monuments, including the Arcos de Lapa (Rio de Janeiro, 2009), the Puerta de Alcalá (Madrid, 2009) and the church of San Pietro in Montorio (Rome, 2009).

    Also part of the series is Storming Times Square, screened on 47 of the LED billboards in Times Square (New York, NY, 2014). His solo shows include “Turbulencias” at Galería Max Estrella (Madrid, 2022). “Hidden Tides” at Wilde Gallery (Basel, 2021). “Reverberations” at Kornfeld Gallery (Berlin, 2021). “Latencies” at Anita Beckers Gallery (Frankfurt, 2021). “Billow” at bitforms gallery (New York, NY, 2020). “Liquid Memories” at Sala Kubo-Kutxa (San Sebastian, 2019).

    Surge a temporary installation for the Grand Lobby Wall at Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA, 2019). “Echo” at Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum (Lafayette, LA, 2019). “Melting the Solids” at Wilde Gallery (Geneva, 2018). “Fluctuations” at Sala Alcalá 31 (Madrid, 2017). OR “Echo” at bitforms gallery (New York, NY, 2017). He has exhibited extensively in major museums and galleries across the world including Art Vault Santa Fe Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, New Mexico. ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.

    Reina Sofia Contemporary Art Museum, Madrid. Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio. Offenes Kulturhaus Center for Contemporary Art, Linz. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfallen, Du ̈sseldorf. Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, Berlin. Borusan Contemporary Museum, Istanbul. American Museum of Natural History, New York.

    Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Alejandro Otero Museum, Caracas. Max Estrella Gallery, Madrid. bitforms gallery, New York. Wilde Gallery, Geneva and Basel. Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt. Kornfeld Gallery, Berlin.

    Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence.

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