Aldo Alcota, Alice Roth, Almudena López, Amaury Grisel, Angela Dalinger, Annie Sprinkle y Beth Stephens, Balfourgisnacht Monster, Cabello/Carceller, Chris Korda, Divine David, J. Palacios, Joan Isobel Bell, jole, Jose Ruiz Segura, Macarena De La Cruz, Marquéz de Gea, Mery Sut, O.R.G.I.A., Prefix-poly, Rampova, Rapha Hu, Samantha Sweeting, Simon Murphy, Toni Cordero.
Micky festeja su corpo hibridez (2007) Aldo Alcota
Preporn Collection Slideshow (2020) Alice Roth
Metamórficos (de la serie IntroVersión: el útero primogenio, 2014) Almudena López
The Nurse (2012) Amaury Grisel
The Plastic Fantastic Dildo Factory (2016) Angela Dallinger
Ecosexual Diploma (2011) Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens
Graham in Venus Drag (1994) Balfourgisnacht Monster
Lost in Transition_Graham Bell Tornado/ Lost in Transition_Anna Maria Staiano (2016) Cabello/Carceller
Apologise to the Future (2020) Chris Korda
Untitled (remains of performance, 1997) The Divine David
Entidad Biosensible (2010) J. Palacios
Woodland scene (?) Joan Isobel Bell
meid in nord itali (2013) jole
Luis y Enrique (2008) Jose Ruiz Segura
Untitled (1990s) Juan Marquéz de Gea
Inquisición (1990´s) Macarena de la Cruz
Bolge series (2012) Mery Sut
Flori-cultura subversiva (fragment, 2010) O.R.G.I.A.
Untangle (2014) Prefix- poly
Erreria (2014) Rampova
El Misterisoso chAPPero descarado (2017) Rapha Hu
Lamb (2007) Samantha Sweeting
Mona/Simon (1996) Simon Murphy
Geyserbird (2018) Toni Cordero
Más información sobre la exposición / More information on the exhibition: http://www.consorcimuseus.gva.es/centro-del-carmen/exposicion/de-reull-1990-2020/?lang=es
PRENSA / PRESS
Enlace al artículo por Jose Ramón Alarcón en MAKMA
English translation of Jose Ramón Alarcón´s article in MAKMA:
“To mix, to mess up, to bring the domestic and the private into the spotlight in order to contrast the relational process itself with the verification; the insignificant with the meaningful.”
These are the intentions which distinguish the discourse of La Erreria (House of Bent) collective, led by the artists Anna Maria Staiano and Graham Bell Tornado. Their work can be seen in the De Reüll: 1990-2020 exhibition at the CCCC Contemporary Arts Centre which “compiles the artistic trajectory of De Reüll, an artistic group founded in the Marina Alta (Alicante), and analyses the context in which contemporary art has developed in the Valencian region from the Transition to the present.” (Milagros Pellicer)
An atypical and productive creative group whose curiosity and work on art and nature led to an inevitable meeting, in 2010, between the vertebral discourse of the Grup de Reüll and the peripheral, queer idiosyncrasies built on the foundations of La Erreria through its Ecogender project, elucidated from its headquarters in Xàtiva and with subsequent spinoffs in Valencia.
However, to delve into the foundations that establish the central concepts of La Erreria (House of Bent), the retrospective gaze must go back several decades to when Anna Maria and Graham laid roots down in this land, leaving behind their luxuriant manifestations in the unorthodox basements of the London performance scene.
“We arrived in Valencia in 2003”, recalls Graham, “and began to do performances, cabarets, then we did our first coronation in 2006. They were very difficult years in this city. The worst. We came from a situation in which, from time to time, you could make subsidized art” and they ended up in a Valencian artistic context at a time “when everything seemed impossible.”
It would be in 2009 when the extent of their concerns would take on an experiential morphology in their house museum, in the very epicentre of the capital of the Costera region, which opened its nineteenth-century doors with the dissident talent The World of Rampova Cabaret, an artist whose paintings, drawings, texts, comics, performances and costumes would dignify not only their own memorable legacy but also that of their political cabaret group Ploma 2 (together with the ill-fated Clara Bowie). This exhibition would also allow La Erreria (House of Bent) to constitute, from then on, an unprecedented way of being / thinking / exhibiting.
A way of being and remaining in the Valencian artistic cosmos that has allowed Graham and Anna Maria (both of them driven by their “love for a unnatural nature influenced by punk, baroque and retro modernism”) to endorse the work of a vast list of creators whose discourses evolve from concepts such as gender, ecology and feminism in La Erreria, through “exhibitions, concerts and guided tours of the space.”
Distinguishing characteristics that, within the exhibition De Reüll: 1990-2020, are expressed through their facet as “collectors and collected, since in a world full of objects we need to ask ourselves how we relate to the present and the past, how we share space and if they will be with us in the future (if there is one)”, as stated in the curatorial text.
A common bond of relationships ordered by the central, fundamental concept of the aforementioned (geographical and semantic) backlands, through which “we have gathered, through emotional ties, a small collection of friends work. Queer, feminist and eco artists”, repeats Graham Bell Tornado.
More than twenty artists and almost fifty works amongst which “there is no hierarchy of what is and is not art. What is fine art, craft, kitsch?” Graham wonders. “Everything is mixed together.”
Pieces by Alice Roth, The Divine David, Amaury Grisel, Angela Dalinger, Simon Murphy, O.R.G.I.A., Almudena López, Toni Cordero, Cabello / Carceller, Rampova or Chris Korda, amongst others, alongside anonymous works rescued from the rubbish at the Valencian flea-market, maternal embroideries, cruising beach scenes, hair pieces and fetishes “that form part of queer practice”, heraldic shields and pastel drawings, as well as some pointed acronym wordplay such as U.D.M.A.D. (Uniform of Director of Museum of Decorative Arts) ’and‘ H.M.R.C. (Tools and Mementoes of the Royal Coronations)’.
An iconoclastic anthology which interferes in the workings of the institution, opposite which Graham, dressed in 2011 as the illustrious Consuelo Ciskar (at the time director of the Valencian Museum of Modern Art), would vindicate, “a diverse museum, open… to fags, whores, blacks… the whole world.” A time of high heels and banners during which, they explained “I was very vulnerable”. However, taking that oppositional stance “was important. Nowadays it would probably be much less scary to carry out an action like that.”
Not so distant times of feverish “street fighting, (LGTBQI) pride”, which, “thanks to the goddess, younger generations can enjoy.”
For this reason, and based on their long-standing commitment, “we are waiting for recognition from those social and cultural agents we have supported in the past and who are now in positions of power.” Nevertheless, as Graham cautions, “change is very slow. Although there are laws that improve our situation, mentalities do not change so quickly. There is more visibility, but in return, there are more and more reactionary people who come out against us.”
Artículo por Marisol Salanova en la revista Mirall.
“Through the use of textiles, La Errería (House of Bent)´s installation of work attempts to raise awareness about ecology, gender and an innovative understanding of art as social commitment. Graham Bell Tornado and Anna Maria Staiano form the perfect duo to reverse roles and break stereotypes as can be seen in the part of the exhibition where their works are located.”
Artículo publicado por Verlanga: https://verlanga.com/agenda/de-reull-1990-2020-mirando-a-la-cara-a-la-cultura-de-las-ultimas-decadas/
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