María García-Ibáñez
b. 1978, Madrid, Spain
The work of María García-Ibáñez displays a simplicity of line, purity and elegance that almost betrays the deep discourse and moral dilemmas that are embodied in her practice. María’s works reflect a reconciliation between science and aesthetics, contemporary digital techniques and traditional craftsmanship, the views of the old and the ‘new’ worlds, the anatomical construction of the human body and its soul.
Fascinated with anatomical constructions and organic forms she buried herself in the understanding of underlying structures, cells, veins, roots, anatomical and geographical maps, the different scales of the territory, issues that ultimately imply a revision of the origin, from a spatial and psychological point of view. Questioning them, dissecting them and then reconstructing their essence and layers with a deeply feminine aesthetic style.
Drawing, is an essential part of María’s practice and the base that supports her body of works. It allows her to open up a propositional discourse, which surfaces in a more or less intuitive form, that explores a variety of fields, from biology to geology, sociology and history. Whilst her research demonstrates a deep intellectual concern, María’s true obsession is the creative process itself. She constantly experiments with materials and techniques, such as ceramics, laser-cutting, screen-printing and vinyl installation; expanding her painstakingly detailed drawings to fully occupy architectural space. In between her vast areas of interest, she circles around the organic patterns that refract universally through these seemingly unconnected spheres.
In her latest series, Tejido, meaning weave, María fills an entire sheet of paper with colourful geometric patterns using watercolour, gouache and colour pencils before laser-cutting most of it away. This intimate act of creation and destruction intertwines two distinct patterns. The act of reduction uplifts the work, the vibrant colours are suspended against the white background where the clean edges of the netted form play with light and shadow.
María lives between her native Spain and Mexico, where she currently works. She has participated in a number of cultural projects and has held solo and collective exhibitions in Asia, Europe and Mexico. As a young artist, she was recognised and broadly supported with several production grants including the residence grant for creators from Ibero-America supported by the main Cultural Councils and Foreign Affairs ministries of Spain and Mexico. María was invited to participate in Mystical Path, one of the most striking exhibitions curated by Gonzalo Ortega at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey (MARCO). In 2015, her work Molecule was one of the 65 selected works – amongst 3,487 inscribed – for the XI FEMSA Bienal, one of the most recognised biennales in the Americas. Most recently, María was awarded the Basu Foundation Residency for the Arts in Kolkata, India, at Estampa Art Fair.
Puerta Roja represents María García-Ibáñez in Asia since 2012.
