Puerta Roja presents ‘Weightless Matter’, Gladys Nistor’s debut solo exhibition in Asia

Weightless Matter

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Gladys Nistor

09.11.17 – 06.01.18

 

(Hong Kong, 29 September 2017) Puerta Roja is proud to introduce for the first time in Hong Kong the bewildering art of Argentinean artist Gladys Nistor. Weightless Matter presents all site-specific works breaking from traditional mediums and genres that expand the definitions of art and defy the perceptions of the viewer. The opening reception is kindly sponsored by the Consulate General of the Argentine Republic in Hong Kong and Macau, as part of the Hong Kong Argentinian Festival 2017. Gladys Nistor will be present to introduce her work to Asia and the event will include a special performance by the Hong Kong Ballet.

“I try as much as I can to avoid the tedious contact with matter”

Gladys Nistor

Gladys Nistor’s bodiless work is playful and paradoxical, floating in space, boldly illuminating an imaginary dimension. Nistor precisely balances light and dark in order to release objects from gravitational laws. By constructing intense contrast, the artist distils aesthetics down to their very core. With striking simplicity and intriguing illusion, she leaves the viewer bewildered. Eyes and mind are conflicted to question the mechanisms of both the work and our own perception of it.

Weightless Matter presents the artist’s site-specific new series Objets de Lumière. Every piece is uniquely and intimately tailored to the gallery space. The works leave convention behind by breaking away from frame, canvas and three-dimensionality to fully occupy the environment.

Adriana Alvarez-Nichol, founder of Puerta Roja says: “Over the last seven years Puerta Roja has constantly explored through the work of its stable of Latin American and Spanish artists the use of untraditional media, seldom presenting in its exhibitions traditional canvas painting. Glady’s work follows the path of non-objective or art to its limits. When I encountered the artist work I was at first mystified, but quickly curiosity evolved into a deep sense of reflection on the essence of perception, on the blurring lines between matter and light, on our own origin. I was engulfed by the simplicity and purity of Glady’s view of the world and the environment we live in”.

Weightless Matter is kindly sponsored by the Consulate General of the Argentine Republic in Hong Kong and Macau, as part of the Hong Kong Argentinian Festival 2017. The gallery is extremely proud to share Argentinian culture with the local and international community, Argentinian wine will be served at the opening reception. The Spanish restaurant, La Paloma, located next to the gallery, will also take part in the festival by inviting Argentinian chefs to serve a special menu in conjunction with the opening reception of Weightless Matter. The Hong Kong Ballet is also involved in this event, performing on both the opening reception and during The Gallery Walk For Charity on the 21st of November. The Hong Kong Ballet wishes to reconnect with the visual art scene through this collaboration and diversify its audience. Puerta Roja is delighted to collaborate with different sectors of the creative industries in order to promote interdisciplinary creativity and a bring a unique experiences to the public. Gladys Nistor’s first solo show in Asia could not be more fitting for the HKAGA’s The Gallery Walk For Charity. This year, funds raised will go to support a range of charities relevent to art: The Women’s Foundation, Sovereign Art Foundation, The HKAGA Artists Residency Abroad Funding Scheme and HKAGA Arts Education Programmes.

Gladys Nistor was born in Argentina, studied Philosophy in Israel and in 1990, she received a scholarship from the French Government in to study fine art at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1994, she received a Master in Fine Arts from the Université de Paris VIII. Experiencing early success in her home country, her work saw through the years a dramatic transformation increasingly focused on a minimal expression and subtraction of matter, giving her a growing presence in France and culminating in her participation in Painting Zero Degree. Inspired by Roland Barthes’ book “Writing Degree Zero”, curator Carlos Basualdo presented artists who were reducing their artworks through radical means, focusing on pictorial practices that fitted neither the concept of abstract paintings nor that of the ready-made.  Established names such as Robert Ryman and Daniel Buren were featured alongside ten emerging artists including Gladys Nistor. Presented by Independent Curators International (ICC) the exhibition toured museums in the USA for two years to great acclaim and where Nistor’s works claimed the limelight.

Disillusioned with the realities of “life as an artist”, Nistor took a step back from her practice to work as a designer in Paris for over a decade. However, the deep and incontestable emotional and spiritual necessity to return to her artistic work, brought her back in full force to produce her most innovative series of works. Objets de Lumière team not only with vitality but are also executed with the maturity of an artist that has gone through a process of deep introspection and reflection on life.

Puerta Roja is proud to present in Gladys Nistor in Asia for the first time in 2017 at a time when the artists career is reignited with full force.