Vicente Blanco (Santiago de Compostela, 1974), featured artist in the field of videocreation, presents his latest work entitled Alguna vez pasa cuando estáis dormidos, specifically conceived for Espacio Uno. Since his first exhibition in 1995, Blanco participates in various projects, among which the collective exhibition Monocanal stands out, organised at the Museum in 2003.
Blanco's work process starts with large landscape photographs to which he adds animated characters. Blanco does not use narrative videos, the characters are static and do not move as fast as film itself.
In a constant process of experimentation, the artist uses images as a collage animation, with characters who are born as part of the photographed landscape and whom he draws from advertising and television. With this mechanism, that is, taking these contemporary icons of their usual context, Blanco aims to create a cold and distant atmosphere for the spectator.
Blanco's language is generated from traditional elements like drawing, which he mixes with contemporary keys. All this culminates in a third group of codes, coming from visual television. In his techniques there is a clear trace of drawing which he questions and pushes to its limits.
For this exhibition the artist presents several pencil drawings on the wall and has produced two video-projections. These are pieces of animation where Blanco uses photographic medium to meticulously recreate spaces. One projection shows a static landscape, while the other is presented in a separate room and poses a sequence that recreates the interior of a house in which two characters have a brief conversation. The relationship between the two scenes should be generated by the spectator, because, in the words of the artist "The projections function like small pieces of information that need to be completed."
Blanco is interested in the link between image and structure as a balance of power. In his works he reveals that relationship as a constant vibration. The artist uses an image that appears to be effective in the eyes of the spectator when subjected to his logic. The problem is that, at a determined point, this relationship is reversed and the ideological, cultural or historical web that supports it can be seen, as explained by the artist himself. Accordingly, Blanco acknowledges his confidence in the ability of art as a means to generate experience, to turn the spectator into an active subject, beyond socially acquired conventions and stereotypes.
Exhibition´s details
Museo Reina Sofía Publications
