María Ortega - Enhebrar el vacío
GALERÍA DE ARTE A CIEGAS, Madrid, ES
14.09. – 10.11.2023

A Ciegas Art Gallery directed by Silvana Retamal presents the new exhibition of the artist María Ortega entitled "ENHEBRAR EL VACÍO”.
An exhibition where Ortega continues her journey in the textile world hand in hand with design, on the basis that creation in this area is not only a corporeal envelope but goes beyond.

SYNOPSIS OF THE PROJECT
"The search for new creative horizons is what leads me to reflect on the subject, given that the beginning of a work in the field of design involved a first research on new fabrics and the senses that they awakened. Hence, "textile creation" soon manifested itself as an inescapable starting point. For a few years, in my haute couture workshop, I experimented on bodies and volumes, almost sculptural. All this would become a gateway to what is now called "artwear" and art in motion."

CURATORIAL TEXT WRITTEN BY NEREA UBIETO
Nerea Ubieto (Zaragoza, 1984. He lives and works in Madrid). With a degree in Art History from the University of Zaragoza, she works as an independent curator in public and private institutions, cultural manager, professor in the Master of PhotoEspaña, collaborating scriptwriter in the Metropolis program and critic in the ABC Cultural. It focuses her speech on identity and feminist issues. She is currently moving her exhibition "El Ojo Desarmado", on the culture of rape, by the Centers of Spain in Latin America.

Enhebrar el vacío
From being "something" to "nothing" there is only one step; physical, mental, practical... We see it in the biological emergence and disappearance, but also in depression or in an eco-social crisis (energy, health, etc.) The awareness occurs with the important changes, which imply a stop in the daily flow of existence; then, we glimpse the fragility hidden behind the disguise of autonomy. We do not own the processes of the body that we consider "our", although their actions are decisive in the evolution of events. We can intervene, direct, thread threads of intention capable of fulfilling dreams. María Ortega's work shows, with exquisite sensitivity, the moments in which, as individuals and society, we reveal ourselves vulnerable and powerful.
The work Transformations shows two moments of a flower bud, full and empty, referring to the life experience of the artist during and after pregnancy. Her body is once again the protagonist in Self-Portrait, a silk and cotton sculpture that protects her most sense organs: the lungs, the ovaries and the heart; the same one that shrinks in solitude and blooms when she takes care of herself, for example, reciting a mantra, because the heart is mind and the mind is strengthened by focusing, by being. Only in this way can you achieve the necessary calm and silence in your own and other people's communication. Individualism isolates us, like the starlings of the power line in the Blackout photographic series, but we can fly together, accompanying us in the vastness of an uncertain future. Who, if not the other, could thread that emptiness? María Ortega's works invite you to connect with speech, listening, hug... to weave a common space where we can meet.

MARÍA ORTEGA – Biography
With a degree in Design from the School of Design of Madrid, she created her own design and Textile Art studio. Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Blake School in London (sculpture, engraving and textile art). Professional course in artistic photography at EFTI Madrid. Cultural Management Course at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid.

María Ortega's artistic and professional career are linked to Contemporary Textile Art or Fiber Art (Fiber Art), dedicating a great effort to the promotion and dissemination of this movement.
As an artist, she has participated in more than 100 exhibitions, Biennials and Triennials nationally and internationally.
Currently, she combines her professional career as a multidisciplinary artist with cultural management, organizing and curating more than 25 exhibitions, is a member of the curatorial team of The 12th "From Lausanne to Beijing" International Fiber Art Biennale, China and jury of different awards. Director of Europe of the International Organization World Textile Art (WTA), General Director of the X International Biennial of Textile Art 25 years WTA, Madrid 2022 and of the VIII International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art WTA Ciudad Sostenible, Madrid 2019, is a member of the board of directors of MAV.

"Multidisciplinary artist with strong sensitivity.
Her new work has a subtlety of nuances fused into living matter. The essence that is eternally reborn by her hands.
Her gaze on the eternal and the everyday.
Spaces that are in the central point of their works looking for the looks.
Black and white, without color in pursuit of the renewal of an art that begins yesterday barely without matter."

GALERIA DE ARTE A CIEGAS
The project of the A Ciegas Art Gallery was born at the beginning of 2017, with the idea of giving space to emerging artists and close to the environment of its gallery owner Silvana Retamal, who has followed the journey of the artists for years. The gallery opens its doors in April 2018 with the aim of publicizing the work of its artists, valuing the relationship between gallery owner, artist and collector.

OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION:
Friday, September 15, 2023 from 7:00 p.m.

DURATION OF THE EXHIBITION:
From September 14 to November 10, 2023.

PLACE:
Galería de Arte A Ciegas C/ Dos Hermanas nº5, 28012, Madrid.

More information: www.galeriadearteaciegas.com