Monday 01.09.2014

'TEN' at MARTE Museum El Salvador

An exhibition celebrating its 10th anniversary, and showcasing important contemporary work from and about El Salvador. September 2- October 12, 2014.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: San Salvador/New York, May: Simply titled '10,' this exhibition curated by MARTE Contemporary (MARTE-C), features twenty prolific works produced in, and about El Salvador over the past decade. On view from September 2, 2014 until October 12, 2014 at MARTE Museum in San Salvador, this exhibition celebrates MARTE Contemporary's 10-year anniversary, and opens on September 2 at 6pm.

The exhibition's curators worked with MARTE-C's selection team to identify ten impactful artworks made over the past decade by Salvadorans, including its diaspora. Works include 'Home Sweet Home', a new piece based on Ronald Moran's 2004 signature work owned by the Margulies collection in Miami, as well as work by Simón Vega, Waltero Iraheta, Mayra Barraza, Irvin Morazan, Danny Zavaleta, Luis Paredes, Rafael Diaz, Karlos Cárcamo and Ernesto Bautista. These artists were in turn invited to nominate an artwork they feel is exemplar. These selected 10 works include an upturned Volkswagen Beetle by performance artist Victor 'Crack' Rodriguez as well as work by Mauricio Kabistan, Beatriz Cortez, Patricia Dominguez, Mauricio Esquivel, Eduardo Navas, Natalia Domínguez, Alexia Miranda, Abigail Reyes and Melissa Guevara.

This is the first contemporary exhibition to originate from the MARTE-C program. Chairman Mario Cader-Frech comments: ' We are thrilled to enter in to the next decade with '10.' MARTE-C Chief Curator Claire Breukel and MARTE-C Program Manager Lucas Arevalo organized this exhibition to bring together important Salvadoran contemporary artwork and fosters critical dialogue around these works.'

The twenty works on exhibition include painting, performance, video, installation, sound as well as sculpture, showing the incredible breadth of creative practice in, and around, El Salvador. However the curators insist the exhibition is not a survey, rather a slice of insight in to contemporary practice in and about the country. The themes of the exhibition address emigration, violence, and pit first and third world sentiments against each other with gravity as well as humor.

MARTE Museum Director Roberto Galicia comments, 'Over the past decade we have had many of our contemporary artists featured in biennales locally and internationally including at the Central American Biennale and the Venice Biennale.' Since 2010, Galicia has promoted the incorporation of an increasing number of contemporary art works to the Museum collection, which includes works by many of these artists.. He continues, 'The 10 year anniversary of the museum's contemporary program marks an important moment, and it is our aim to continue to foster new artistic language and experimentation.'