“Bodies In Motion”
Matías Alvial
81 Leonard Gallery Windows,
On view through May 29, 2021
81 Leonard Gallery is excited to announce our second installation of PAUSE, an ongoing initiative to exhibit in our street-facing windows artwork that tells stories of artists’ experiences, life lessons, and new approaches to art-making in response to the global social and political climate. PAUSE: Bodies in Motion, is on view from May 10th through May 29th, featuring two artworks by Matías Alvial that embody the feeling of being constrained by circumstance yet forced into new creative realms.
Alvial depicts stillness not as a state of being, but as a charging period loaded with potential for movement. In “Creemos Juntos Nuestro Futuro,” the painted canvas is stretched taut by metal hooks, threatening either to violently tear or abruptly collapse and fold to the ground. This sensation is echoed by the pictorial imagery, depicting an abstracted, contorted body under stress and strings tied tightly across a small room. Both a nod to the physical confinement of quarantining and the psychological agitation of being fixed in helplessness, “Creemos Juntos Nuestro Futuro” sheds light on the capacity for pressure to catalyze change. The political slogan and poster painted on the walls of the room explicitly display this embryonic possibility; though, their interior placement speaks to the physical barriers to protesting due to the pandemic, as well as the emotional turmoil of justice delayed.
The tension created by stopping movement and freezing a moment of potential reflects the artist’s desire to take control of time. In “Wet Paint” Alvial attempts to prevent the process of paint drying by saturating a freshly painted canvas in oil. In doing so, the artist creates a living object capable of changing and developing, rather than an artifact of something that once was. The artist and activist’s empathic desire to advance change wrestles with the more self-centered desire to leave behind a legacy, a mark in dry paint. In dialogue with “Creemos Juntos Nuestro Futuro,” it is imminent that reform, both personal and societal, is urgently yearned for; while the perpetual question arises: What can art really do?
Alvial’s mental and photographic archive of political posters, street art, and other protest material offers a plausible answer, casting artists as activists and vice versa, for both roles serve as incubators for radical thinking. Upon running into problems with his work visa, the Chilean-born artist decided to leave New York, seeking adventure at a time of uncertainty and setting his sights on London. There, he saw the evidence of global upheaval in the form of protest and visual expression. He says to have found “ambitious creatives pursuing their passions against all odds,” in addition to shared ideologies toward progressivism, specifically calling for better leadership as well as anti-nationalist and anti-racist reform. The feeling of connection to a profound global movement exists in tension with the isolation of life during Covid, the need to heal the world, and the desire to live a life filled with meaning. Truth be told, the two are inseparable; that is if you don’t live in a vacuum.
Matías Alvial (b. 1997) is a Brooklyn-based artist and activist exploring themes of identity, human connection, and language. Originally from Chile, Alvial is developing international recognition through private collectors and recent exhibitions at venues such as Albert Merola Gallery and New York University.
Work by Matías Alvial are available for purchase through Artsy. READ MORE
