NAKED
Alberto Ardid, LABAD, Humberto Ramírez and Olivia Baldwin

NAKED is the first exhibition of La Pera Projects in Spain, and it has been made possible thanks to Badr El Jundi gallery in Madrid. In this group show, we present the work of Alberto Ardid (1986, Vigo, Spain), LABAD (1940, Bilbao, Spain), Humberto Ramírez (1982, Guadalajara, Mexico), and Olivia Baldwin (1990, Boston, USA).

 

The work of these artists exposes material, form, and nature in multidisciplinary creations that are related to each other with the interest of demonstrating the honesty of materials and the reduction of forms.

 

This group presentation offers an international and multigenerational selection, which pursues our vision of giving voice and visibility to contemporary artists, while creating a bridge between the Americas and Europe. The artists, who have already collaborated with La Pera in the past, are brought together in a physical exhibition that seeks to bring contemporary art closer to a younger audience, rethinking the future of a digital curatorial platform in this post-pandemic era. 

 

Alberto Ardid is a visual artist. Ironic, like his work, Ardid creates pieces that are located between perception and matter, using three-dimensionality as the perfect formula to synthesize complex ideas and as a definition of everything that is located on the margins. His works are testimony to the inconsistencies of life, and, in this sense, we could say that there is a living work constantly transforming and generating meaning. Graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona (2010) and with a Master's Degree in Teaching from the University of Vigo (2013), Ardiz has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and has been included in several institutional exhibitions, like Novos Valores, 2020, at the Museo de Pontevedra.

 

Art historians, critics, and collectors alike point out that the work of LABAD "marks a futuristic minimalist trend," "clean geometry, blurred perspectives," and "robotized bodies or humanized mannequins coexist with impossible dreamlike natures." His work has been categorized as close to concepts of magical realism, being highlighted in renowned retrospectives on Spanish painting. LABAD is a self-taught painter with an extensive professional career and artistic dedication. With a wide institutional presence, his work has been included in national and international exhibitions, highlighting those at the Marlborough Gallery, Madrid; Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; Juana Mordó Gallery, Madrid, among others. Currently, he has an individual exhibition at the Palau Altea Centre d’Arts titled El orden de la Belleza. 

 

We discovered the work of Humberto Ramírez on our last visit to Guadalajara, Mexico. His most recent search is born from the exercise of drawing, constructed from objects’ saturated images, conjunctions of ideas, and polyvalences. Each drawing is an independent story and, at the same time, a fragment of a larger one. His work has been exhibited in Mexico and internationally, and he was recently selected for the IX Ibero-American Biennial of Graphic Work in Cáceres, Spain (2021). Naked is the first time the work of the artist has been shown in Spain.

 

Olivia Baldwin's work begins with color and material followed by actions: dipping, tearing, cutting, and rubbing. The artist is interested in the relationship between shape and color and how they harmoniously interact with matter, rethinking the ability of shape to sustain color. Her compositions, whether three-dimensional or flat, are in constant flux. Graduated in English and Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2013) and with an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Connecticut (2020), Baldwin has participated in numerous residencies in the United States and received several distinctions, highlighting the MASS MoCA Assets for Artists Capacity Building Grant (2019). Her work has been widely exhibited in US galleries, and this is her first participation in an exhibition in Spain.
 

The pieces are also available online.