Abdul Vas
What Am I After All
What am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of my own
name? repeating it over and over;
I stand apart to hear--it never tires me.
To you your name also;
Did you think there was nothing but two or three pronunciations in
the sound of your name?
Walt Whitman
Resume
Abdul Vas
Venezuela 1981
Vive y Trabaja entre/Lives and works between: Madrid; Paramaribo, Surinam.
Formación Académica/Education
2001-1999
Escuela De Artes Visuales Rafael Monasterios, Maracay, Venezuela.
Exposiciones Individuales/Solo Exhibitions
2011
Navistar Cucarachon, FTATR- Projects, Los Angeles, CA & Austin, TX
2010
Maximum overdrive, Galería Casado Santapau, Madrid.
2008
Anal Gape Poster Free, Paramaribo, Surinam.
Specificos, 4SPACE, Zaragoza.
Barry times, Street Georgetown, Commonwealth. Georgetown, Guyana.
Fire your guns, cucarachon patticcas, Espai Cultural Obra Social Caja Madrid, Barcelona.
2007
Missing since 1983, Galería T20, Murcia.
2006
Blemish, Galería Luis Adelantado, Miami.
Exposiciones Colectivas/Group Exhibitions
2011
La Fábula Mística, Galería masART, Barcelona.
2010
Arte vivo, Fundación México Vivo, México DF.
The waste land, White Box, New York.
Uncutcock, Preteen Gallery, Hermosillo, Mexico.
Queens Move, Juvenal Reis Studios, New York.
Amazing gape, Atlantica, New York.
2009
Bases, Galería Luis Adelantado, Valencia.
Radiographs, Mythomania & Identity, Centro de cultura antiguo Instituto, Gijón.
The Man Who Fell To Earth, Beijing 798 Biennale, China.
2008
Kunstroute, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, Nederland.
Kippenland Van Palm Park, Paramaribo, Surinam.
Collectors, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, CIFO, Miami.
2007
Kunstveiling, GO Gallery, Amsterdam.
Proyectos/Projects
Patticcas-Cucarachon-Navistar Highway to Texas (En curso/In Development)
Gretsch Jet Firebird Malcolm Young (En curso/ In Development). Libro/Book
Obras en Museos y Colecciones/Works in Museums and Collections
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Sofía Imber, MACCSI, Caracas.
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Maracay Mario Abreu, Maracay.
Miami Art Project, Miami.
Colección Juan Redón, Barcelona.
Gemeente Amsterdam Cultuur, Amsterdam.
Bibliografía/Bibliography
Padín Otero, Román, "Abdul Vas Anything Goes", Art Notes, New York, IX/2009.
Pérez Pont, José Luis, "Missing Since 1983", Exit Express, Madrid, 2007.
Harrisson, Helen, "Private Expressions Art Reviews", The New York Times, New York, II/XV/2004.
Frima, Toto; Vas, Abdul, "Art Empire", De volkskrant, Leiden, VI/XII/2003.
Contacto/Contact
Galería Casado Santapau
C/ Conde de Xiquena, 5. 28004 Madrid
(+34) 915210382
info@casadosantapau.com
www.casadosantapau.com
Questions
1. What made you choose art as a profession?
I just liked looking at the photos of AC/DC in hard-rock magazines and then drawing them over and over again. It was The Razors Edge album, though, that really defined me as a person, and that’s when I decided to channel all my energy as an offering to the gods of AC/DC and baseball.
2. How would you define your work?
My process is an introduction to the absolute universe of AC/DC. Every song, tour and album requires a lot of research. We’re talking about the absolute creators of the universe; without them nothing would have been possible. When I listen to a song like Hells Bells, I can feel the power of a masterpiece that you can’t compare with anything – not even the entire collection at the National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum, the Museo del Prado, the legendary Inca, Maya and Egyptian cultures or Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Not even all of them together would have the power to match AC/DC. Thanks MALCOLM & AC/DC FOREVER!
3. What subjects are you interested in?
AC/DC, baseball, Lino, Tittinnis, Aguacatines, Cucarachones, the white mouse, Patticcas, sleep, repetition, freezing time, stopping movement, setting rules that turn out to be unreal, icy things, absolute control, sensuality, long distances, being a headline.
4. What resources – formal or otherwise – do you use in your work?
For me the key thing is to have a well-equipped space for striking up a dialogue between both galaxies. It’s an excuse I use to transport ideas and to obey higher orders.
5. What relationship does your work have with reality? What are your raw materials?
For me, The Razors Edge is a bridge for dialogue. It happens a lot with people who’ve spent years living for AC/DC, listening to their music, going to their concerts, working with them, studying their albums…
6. What, according to you, is the point of art?
Everything. To mythologise the past, to invade countries, for our ego, to think about different visions of human existence. AC/DC created art for another purpose, to activate human beings’ processes of intelligence and sensitivity between themselves and with the rest of the other species that live on our planet. But our race has decided to question geographical, ethical, religious and political interests through a society united by ordered, structured control by governments who impose laws and oppress human beings’ interests. AC/DC said “LET THERE BE ART” and our ambition transformed that mysterious word into a routine we follow to be different and egocentric. Its use leads us towards a society sinking in its interests to change a world that is already impossible to change for the better, because of its current ruined and decadent state of health. ART=SUCKS.
7. How do you hope the public will receive your work? What audience are you aiming at?
I want my ideas to be absorbed by all kinds of people who are willing to listen and feel that magic which brands symbols onto their soul and marks the start of the story of their life. As Brian Johnson once said, “Fashions change; we don’t.”
8. What qualifications have you got? What do you value most from your time in education?
The Razors Edge turned me into a higher being.
9. How would you define your current professional situation? And in the future?
In the future, I hope AC/DC get back on the road with a new album and a world tour. That gives me energy to fight my asthma and carry on.
10. Many artists say it’s difficult to make a living from their work; how do economic considerations affect you when it comes to work? Do you think this has a bearing on your work?
I don’t think economic issues have a bearing on your work, unless you want to make a gold sculpture or a gargantuan Jeff Koons- or Mariko Mori-style piece.
11. What do you look for or expect from your relationship with promoters and curators? What advantages and difficulties have you found with these relationships?
I’m a firm believer in teamwork. Curators should manage projects, set up cultural events to inject some energy into centres, institutions and museums and directly help the artist’s work. The dialogue between both parties could be more transparent.
12. What do you think sets the arts scene in Madrid apart from elsewhere? What would you say are its pluses and minuses?
If you’re in Los Angeles, you’ll find other advantages and disadvantages. In this sense, every city is different and that’s what makes them what they are. I want cites to be cities, not franchises.
Texts
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Raúl Zamudio, "Never mind the Bullock's, here is Abdul Vas", 2009. ENG | 99.92 KB |