MIGUEL PALMA – No Quotations
We have the pleasure to exhibit No Quotations by Miguel Palma.
Press Release
NO QUOTATIONS
The seven installations reproduced at Arte Institute’s virtual gallery could serve as an example for the larger scale body of work developed by Miguel Palma in the last 10 years. Here we find pictures of the installation Pays/scope (2012), Wishful+Thinking (2011), In Image We Trust (2010), Osmosis (2009), Solar Exposure (2008), Little Boy (2007) and Seedbed Project (2006). These installations assert the artist’s interest in the modern uses of technology – represented in devices, such as, the car, the airplane, the weapon and several mechanical observation devices – and man’s consequent machine mediated relation with the natural environment.
Pays/scope (2012) was a piece commissioned for Marseille Provence 2013 – European Capital of Culture. It consists of a tower, around 20 feet high, with a circular rotating mirror on top. This orange-coated tower was first exhibited at Montagne Saint-Victoire and was observed by a very potent telescope that was pointed at the mirror and located at a 200 feet distance, in the artist studio at the time. Through this process, the observer was able to observe the landscape all around the Montagne as if he was at the place where the tower was. Unlike Cézanne, Palma was inspired by the mountain, even without leaving his work space.
Wishful+Thinking was a installation, presented at Baginski Gallery in 2011, centered on a sculpture of an unfinished car prototype of a Lamborghini Countach. This unfinished machine is left as a potencial mid-engined supercar. It gives space for the user to complete it according to his dreams, and brings in evidence the percentage of desire, fantasy and utopia inherent in the relation with our daily life devices.
In Image We Trust (2010) was first shown at Nicholas Robinson Gallery in New York in 2010. It comes from the artist experience with the American culture following the biennials and residencies in the United States of America, including Location1 (New York, 2007), Prospect1 (New Orleans, 2008) and Zer01 (San Jose, 2010).
Osmosis (2009) was a installation first developed for the Bloomberg Space in London, following the invitation from Graham Gussin and Sacha Craddock. It presents two aquariums with different fishes and water types, one with salt water and the other with fresh water. Through an osmosis system and a third aquarium, the water circulates between the three water containers, becoming salty when needed. This installation makes therefore a potential connection between different environments, separated by natural and biological reasons, but by this mechanical device are part of the same survival system and therefore dependent on each other.
Little Boy (2007) is a sculpture where a miniature airplane, compelled by an airplane turbine, moves in an anticlockwise direction. At the same time, the airplane carries several small bombs that could fall at any moment.
Seedbed Project (2006) is a farm machinery assembled in order to work like a cannon with the purpose of projecting seeds long distance.
Biography
Miguel Palma
Born in 1964. Lives and works in Lisbon.
Exhibits regularly since the late 80’s and established himself in the 90s as one of the most innovative Portuguese artists.
With a strong appeal to sculpture, the artistic background of Miguel Palma followed the direction of multimedia installations, using non-traditional methods of production and working regularly within a team of carpenters, mechanics, engineers and biologists, oriented towards an hybrid area and linked with the industrial production of the 20th century.
Palma’s work often addresses how technology has influenced the life of modern man, its relationship with the environment, the idea of human comfort or even the idea of power.
In parallel to the construction of large and medium scale installations, the artist often resorts to drawing and the construction of miniatures of his projects. These works function simultaneously as a record of the intuitive work process of the artist as well as objects of aesthetic appreciation.
In addition, the artist also produces video, artist books and performances.
Since 2007, Miguel Palma has been an artist in residence at different venues such as Location One (New York, U.S.A.), Headlands – Center for Arts (California, U.S.A.), Château de Servières (Marseille, France), Desert Initiative art residency (Phoenix, U.S.A.), ISCP Residency Program (New York, U.S.A.) among others.