Tensions

About

Works by the New York-based Spanish artist Gema Alava.
Mumford Fine Art is pleased to present TENSIONS, the first solo show in the UK of New York-based conceptual artist Gema Alava. Black-and-white silver gelatin digital photographs from the series TENSIONS (2008) depict the struggle of a nail and a thread both anchored to the floor; and also graphite drawings, some of which inspired the body of work.

TENSIONS' interaction of drawings and photographs suggests that after being exposed to different cultures or realities, we realize that we are constantly surrounded by contradictory truths and that a single point of view might never be enough.

Whether in the form of installation, drawing, photography or action, Alava's work transports the viewer to spaces, always open to speculation, which deal with the power of untold things and the strength that misunderstandings might uncover.

About the artist
Alava's pieces explore the relationship between strength and vulnerability. Histories and common associations of the presented materials connote to draw parallels between memory and fragility, whilst maintaining a certain element of contrasting tension heightened by the subtle integration of light and shadows, which change depending on environment and time of day.
She employs materials that not only recall histories in themselves but that also present the fragility of the human experience through the inherent delicate nature of elements employed. The thread hangs on at breaking point, the thread snaps, the connection between nail and thread ' once so tenuous yet strong- breaks.

My work is based, in part, on the feeling that appears when we are faced with something that looks like it is about to fall. I'm intrigued by how we react to these kinds of situations: if we just let it go and build a new structure, or if we try to hold, maintain, balance what is almost gone. Or, it might involve indecision, when we just look at it wondering what we should do, and how we are supposed to react to such a situation… It's incredible what a complex grammar they have, and how differently the pieces turn out by making the slightest changes.
-Excerpt from an interview by Laura Turegano, in November 2006 at the
King Juan Carlos I Center of New York University.

Interviews
The artist is available for interview; please contact the gallery for full details.