tegenboschvanvreden is pleased to invite you to the opening of Autopis II. Notes, Copies and Masterpieces, the first solo exhibition of work by Anna Ostoya in the Netherlands. The artist presents a series of new works as a continuation of her open-ended investigation into the avantgarde concepts in art from the early twentieth century to the present. Autopis I recently premiered at Galeria Foksal in Warsaw, Poland. Its follow up, Autopis II, opens on January 8, 2011 at tegenboschvanvreden.
History is construction. In her paintings, collages and sculptures, Anna Ostoya questions the authority of historical narratives. She reconsiders and stresses the role of women within the avant-garde, and analyzes both central and peripheral phenomena in historical and geographical terms. Ostoya employs a pseudomorphic method, which entails the pairing of visually similar elements such as portraits, archival images and artworks as a creative apparatus to forge new interpretations and associations. The exhibition highlights the politics of the historical avant-garde, its critical weight and its goals for social betterment. The title ‘autopis’, a word invented by Anna Ostoya, reflects her yearning for the experimental thinking that underlies the project and her work.
tegenboschvanvreden brings another context to this series and thus expands the aspects of questions raised in the past: What dangers are inherent in the institutionalization and in the commercialization of the arts? What kind of present-day exclusions are functioning in our sociocultural context? The implications of showing work at a young gallery which promotes emerging artists are different from those when exhibiting at Galeria Foksal, a renowned place for avant-garde activities that has operated outside market structures for over forty years. The risks and the advantages involved in each case are multifaceted, although both share one straightforward question: How do we face reality and change it through art?