Fortunate Objects

Presenting artworks from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection which appropriate, recreate or reinterpret objects of the everyday, Fortunate Objects proposes a playful, imaginative, curious and unexpected approach to objects in daily life. The exhibition includes work by international emerging and established artists from different generations, in various media and ranging from the monumental to the intimate.

The show is structured around three main themes: the appropriated object, the surrogate object, and the object utilized.

The appropriated object refers to the recontextualization of mass produced objects in the form of assisted ready-made, such as ‘Forever’ Bicycles by Ai Wei Wei , Móvil by Marcela Astorga and Carrito by Moris.

The surrogate or constructed object refers to works that physically or conceptually allude to or constitute objects of the everyday or of mass culture. Such works include Olafur Elliason’s Einstein Table Upset or Blue Double Kaleidoscope,; Damian Hirst’s The Body of Christ, Jose Antonio-Hernandez-Diez’s El Gran Patriarca and Jon Kessler’s Favela. These works replace and re-invent the common objects to which they refer.

The object utilized involves the use of objects to ascribe meaning, produce new forms or themes, or to echo or document and engage the original referent, such as the chalkboards by Priscilla Monge, Mona Hatoum’s frottages, Jose Damasceno’s Durante o Caminho Vertical, an installation with shoe soles or Donna Conlon’s video, Espectros Urbanos. This particular section also includes photography revolving around the tradition of Still life, including modernist works by Paulo Pires and Geraldo de Barros and more contemporary photographers such as Gabriel Orozco, Fischli & Weiss, and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection

mit Ai Weiwei, Marcela Astorga, Olafur Eliasson, Damien Hirst, Jose Antonio Hernandez-Diez, Jon Kessler, Priscilla Monge, Mona Hatoum, Jose Damasceno, Paulo Pires, Geraldo de Barros, Gabriel Orozco, Fischli / Weiss, Hiroshi Sugimoto ...