Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection

December 6, 2007 – February 24, 2008

Curator: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill

Selection of artists featured in exhibition:

Emilia Azcárate (Venezuela), Donna Conlon (USA), Alexandre da Cunha (Brazil), Olafur Eliasson (Denmark), Peter Fischli and David Weiss (Switzerland), Damien Hirst (England), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Mexico), Cildo Meireles (Brazil), Priscilla Monge (Costa Rica), Moris (Israel Meza Moreno) (Mexico), Gabriel Orozco (Mexico), and Ai Weiwei (China).

In Fortunate Objects, a contemporary exhibition where Latin America had a particularly large representation, forty- three artists made everyday objects the protagonists to their art production.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 1, 2007                            

CIFO PRESENTS FORTUNATE OBJECTS

AN EXPLORATION OF THE EVERDAY IN ART

Exhibition Drawn from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection to Coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach 2007 in December

Miami, Florida – The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, known as CIFO, has announced the presentation of Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, an exhibition curated by CIFO Chief Curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill showcasing contemporary art inspired by seemingly ordinary, everyday objects. On view from December 5, 2007 to February 24, 2008, the exhibition will coincide with the international art fair Art Basel Miami Beach (Dec. 6-9 2007). It will feature works by leading artists such as Ai Weiwei, Damien Hirst and José Antonio Hernández-Diez, drawn from the exceptional collection assembled by international patron and arts advocate Ella Fontanals-Cisneros.

Since the early twentieth century, contemporary artists have incorporated the use of everyday objects—such as readymades, Dada assemblages, collages, and contemporary installations—in an ever-increasing attempt to bridge the distance between art and life. Fortunate Objects is about the space explored between art and life; about the processes taking place within this gap, and in some cases, the merging of the two. The exhibition surveys the many possibilities that exist in contemporary art through the reuse and reinterpretation of everyday things, be they found, constructed, bought, appropriated, instrumental or invented. The show features 59 works in various media by international emerging and established artists from different generations, ranging in scale from the monumental to the intimate.

“Fortunate Objects proposes a playful, imaginative, curious and unexpected approach to objects used in daily life,” said Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Chief Curator of CIFO and the curator for the exhibition. “This show celebrates and investigates the nature of the objects surrounding us, and in doing so, encourages us to reexamine our environment and ourselves.”

CIFO’s founder Ella Fontanals-Cisneros added, “Fortunate Objects is an expression of CIFO’s commitment to showcasing contemporary art of the highest caliber that will excite, inspire and engage audiences in Miami. This exhibition offers a wide-ranging view of an enduring artistic practice—and through these artists’ work, we gain a new way of seeing our world.”

Fortunate Objects is structured around three main themes: the appropriated object, the surrogate object, and the object utilized. The appropriated object refers to the reuse of mass-produced objects in the form of assisted readymades, such as ‘Forever’ Bicycles by Ai Weiwei, Móvil by Marcela Astorga, and Mobile Home by Moris. The surrogate object features work that re-invents common objects, such as Einstein Table Upset or Blue Double Kaleidoscope by Olafur Eliasson, The Body of Christ by Damien Hirst (pill cabinet), El Gran Patriarca by José Antonio-Hernandez-Diez (billiard table), and Favela by Jon Kessler. The third section, the object utilized, involves the use of objects to ascribe meaning or produce new forms or themes, such as the chalkboards by Priscilla Monge, Mona Hatoum’s frottages, José Damasceno’s Durante o Caminho Vertical (an installation with shoe soles), and Donna Conlon’s video Espectros Urbanos. This particular section also includes photography revolving around the tradition of the still life, including modernist works by Paulo Pires and Geraldo de Barros, and more contemporary photographers such as Gabriel Orozco, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Peter Fischli and David Weiss.

Ella Fontanals-Cisneros began collecting contemporary art in the 1970s, and today her collection includes important and cutting-edge pieces by some of the leading artists of our time.  Collection highlights include photography by Barbara Kruger, Ana Mendieta, and Thomas Struth; abstract works by Barbara Hepworth, Jesús Soto, and Gego; and video installations by Bill Viola, Chantal Akerman, and Julian Rosenfeldt.

Exhibition View: Left to right: José Antonio Hernández-Diez,  El Gran Patriarca, 1993; Jose Damasceno, Durante o Caminho Vertical, 2005; Mateo López, Sleeping Box, 2007; José Antonio Hernández-Diez, De U.G.aT.V., 2000. Fortunate Objects, CIFO, Miami, 2007.

Photo: Oriol Tarridas

Exhibition View: Fortunate Objects, CIFO, Miami, 2007.

Photo: Oriol Tarridas