Basketspeck

Sept 2 - 15, 2013

Artist: Maximiliano Siñani

Curated by Paul Lemarquis

Opening Reception: Sept 5, 6-8pm

Michael Mut Project Space is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Maximiliano Siñani, the artist's second solo show in New York City.

Occupying the entire space by redefining the intrinsic properties of objects, Siñani, a young Bolivian artist, plays on the reactions these new objects can generate on the viewer. Through a careful recontextualisation of the object, a new meaning emerges. In Basketspeck, the simple but efficient association of a basketball ball and confetti generates a completely new game, one that not only implies the playful aspect of basketball, but also the festivity and color of confetti. A video and a photography of the ball complements the rest of the show acting as a sort of rule book for the viewers. In the video, Siñani interacts with his own piece, serving as an initiator to the performance itself.

Influenced in part by the Oruro Carnival in Bolivia, where the intense display of colors confounds the participants, Siñani uses the basketball to spread the confetti around the gaming area. A speck is a mark as each confetti alters the area onto which it falls. This redefines the game area itself through the use of a redefined object.

Using the gallery space as a metaphor for a game box, Siñani also presents a series of small paintings that reflect the impact of the confetti on their environment. This is a game where the initial premise is given, leaving the rest open to the interpretation of the viewer. One might see the paintings as tiles to use on a large scale gaming board.

Siñani questions the established purpose of everyday objects, in this case a basketball and confetti. Thus, the finished work is a synthesis of commonly opposed materials.

Maximiliano Siñani (b. 1989) is a Bolivian artist based in New York. He was born in La Paz, Bolivia, educated in the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz and continued in New York at the School of Visual Arts. His work is based on his everyday, by using common objects into new meanings or signifiers so to say. His pieces were showed in several exhibitions internationally. A constant world traveler, Siñani and his wife Ilaria Garbero, divide their time between La Paz, Torino and New York.