EUGENIO MERINO

EUGENIO MERINO /// WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER HERO

"An essential aspect of power is that it only likes to laugh at its own jokes" Peter Sloterdijk

ADN Galería presents the second solo show in Barcelona of Eugenio Merino, We don’t need another hero.

Two years went by since Merino’s exhibition Global Warming was showed at ADN Galería, and now the artist seems to put aside the representation of popular figures and superheroes, typical of his previews works, and embrace the representation of anonymous characters and objects charged with strong symbology, emphasizing even more his critical stand before subjects like war and military policy. He already dealt with war and its consequences in the video Jailhouse Rock (in Guantanamo) in 2008. Now, new discourses and semantic games enrich the topics treated in former works, asking for the necessary complicity of the spectators to decode the iconography present in his work. The show swifts between causticity and satire; playing with real and complex situations, turning thus the dramatic into sarcasm and vice versa.

In We don’t need another hero we find a declination of Eugenio Merino in his assumed role of resistant cynic engaged in showing naked truths, facilitating some relevant unmasking; in this occasion he approaches a cardinal cynicism: the one belonging to the military power and the State. Everyone from every social class reports how evil is war and, however, we passively assist to a schizoid indoctrination so that who is supposedly weak could be presented as a hero. During Modern times, both state and military power have been translating the risk, and its supposed associated heroism, from the ancient knight, converted to a war hero, to these other that have nothing to do with war. This is exactly what’s emphasized in the sculptural group No Return Policy in which we can see two soldiers packed in wooden boxes and sent to make war as if they were weapons distributed by express mail service: a juridical and political exploitation in the name of peace. Even though this unavoidable reality could seem pretty obvious in a first moment, as a truth we all have sustained at least once, the confrontation with such a direct and insolent production, related to the ethos of classical cynicism, makes us feel taking part to this contemporary cynicism able of justifying peace through war.

Peace Medals, some medals apparently used to commemorate war triumphs but formally configured with a piece sign, make us look at this State’s cynicism that send to war the so-called “peacekeeping forces”, charging this message with expressivity and forcefulness. The big irony comes when the supposed heroes, dead in a “peacekeeping mission”, have to be buried in an official ceremony as heroes dead in combat. Another artwork that clearly refers to this military and central cynicism is Damocles´ Sword. This piece offers a double semantic turn: it speaks not only about the uncertain faith pending on the powerful people holding public duty, as referred to in its classical literary meaning, but also the lack of security that all of us, Western citizens, have to endure. Of course we do have armies ready to fight against the “evil axis” but the counterpart is the constant threat of international terrorism.

About the artist’s production process, it’s important to point out its synthetic aspect: the crash of realities, of iconographies and different or opposite symbols which generate unpredictable lectures. The apparently simplicity of a sculpture like Victory or Death shows perfectly the artist’s working process: a hand with two fingers making the peace sign, rolled up with barbed wire that reminds us of a trench, a concentration camp or a prison. A first approach suggests the impossibility of celebrating victory or peace when there are wires still trapping us. Then, we start perceiving that the artist’s intention is to symbolize the symbiosis between the increasing weaponry and peace, as if war or the menacing power of army could really bring stability, for some at least. We are so threatened and armed to the teeth that we cannot genuinely enjoy peace. Here the artist wants once again to contribute unmasking the contemporary cynical condition. (ARTCITIZENS)


Eugenio Merino lives and works in Madrid, where he was born in 1975. After achieving the BFA at Universidad Complutense in Madrid, he showed his works internationally and has participated in important fairs such as: Volta Basel (ADN Galería, 2010/2009), ARCO (solo Project, ADN Galería, 2010/2009), Volta New York (ADN Galería, 2009), Artefiera (ADN Galería, 2010), Art Brussels (ADN Galería, 2008). Recently, he has participated in the exhibition One Shot! Football nd Contemporary Art at BPS22 in Charleroi (Belgium), at the Biennial Animamix in Taipei (Taiwan, 2010) and will take part at the International Ink Art Biennale of Shenzhen (China) in December 2010.



EUGENIO MERINO /// WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER HERO
ADN GALERIA, BARCELONA
FROM October 29th – December 11th, 2010




☁ EUGENIO MERINO
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☁ EUGENIO MERINO PREVIOUSLY ON LE ZÈBRE

EUGENIO MERINO'S SCULPTURE CREATES CONTROVERSY

Artist Eugenio Merino is being sued for €18,000.

His sculpture "Always Franco" depicts Spain's past dictator Francisco Franco set inside a fridge.

"Merino said his piece is meant to be a comment on how the former dictator, who ruled from the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975, continues to make headlines in Spain.
"It represents the idea that in Spain people are keeping the image of Franco alive. We don't stop talking about him, debating about him. A fridge is where things are kept alive and fresh," he said."

Yet know the Francisco Franco National Foundation (FNFF) is claiming €18,000 in compensation for damages to the dictator’s honor while labeling Merino’s work as “artistic rubbish”.

In support to Eugenio Merino and freedom of expression, a manifesto can be signed.

If you wish to express your support to Eugenio Merino, and wish to defend the freedom of expression please VISIT THIS LINK AND SIGN THE MANIFESTO!


☁ SIGN THE MANIFESTO HERE
☁ EUGENIO MERINO PREVIOUSLY ON LE ZÈBRE

4 the love of Go(l)d

Wow. I could not pass up this story this morning, as I think it is delectable. I was actually laughing out loud as I was reading the first part. I still think that criticizing Damian Hirst in that manner, is just another way to try and be in the same spotlight. But at least Engenio Merino is not denying it and acknowledges that he admires the man. In a certain way, who doesn't? Anyways, here is the article :

It is Damien Hirst with a bloody hole in his head – the richest bad boy of British art finally turned into a piece of half-pickled art himself.

Spanish artist Eugenio Merino's sculpture, which shows a Hirst figure pointing a gun at himself and blowing his own brains out, is meant to be a comment on the British artist's own £50mdiamond-studded skull, For the Love of God.

Merino has called his piece "4 the Love of Go(l)d", suggesting that Hirst's attempts to increase the value of his own work would only be enhanced by his own death.

"I thought that, given that he thinks so much about money, his next work could be that he shot himself. Like that the value of his work would increase dramatically," Merino told The Guardian. "Obviously, though, he would not be around to enjoy it."

Merino's work, displayed in the sort of glass case that Hirst likes to fill with formaldehyde and dead animals, has been on display at Madrid's ARCO art fair.

"It is a joke but it is also paradoxical that if he did kill himself his work would be worth even more," said Merino. "That is a metaphor for the current state of the art world."

Merino said that many people thought the work meant that he hated Damien Hirst, when in fact he was a great admirer. "I am a fan. I studied him at art school. I'm just adding my own little grain of sand," said Merino, who devoted the rest of his ARCO show to parodies of Hirst's work.

These included a football split in half to expose the inside of a skull and brain called "Hooligan's Anatomy" after Hirst's own anatomical works.

Hirst may have set records with his diamond-studded skull and the recent, credit crunch-defying £111m auction of his work, but Merino is not himself averse to money.

In fact, the Hirst money-making magic seems to have rubbed off on him. His 4 the Love of Go(l)d has been snapped up by a buyer from Florida, reportedly for $41,000 (£28,800). All his other Hirst spoofs have also been bought at ARCO, going to collectors in Holland and Portugal.

"The art market is bad but actually this year has been spectacular for me," the 33-year-old artist said. "It is ironic. I've never sold so much."(The Guardian)

Eugenio Merino's website
The article in the Guardian

Eugenio Merino

Eugenio Merino is the artist behind the 4 the love of Go(l)d sculpture that I talked about in another post. I thought I would present some more of his work. He is a very talented artist from Madrid. Very political, you can't take his work at the first degree... he has a lot of humor! His website is definitely worth a look.

+Eugenio Merino