The exhibition ‘Books by artists and author boxes’ brings together the proposals of creators from all over the worldCarsten W. Lauritsen
The inspiration offered by the verses of a poem is captured by the most varied artists in the most personal way possible through author’s boxes, an artistic genre itself, which is already as important as sculpture, painting. , drawing or literature. Books of artists and author boxes is the name of the exhibition that can be visited in the Pedro González and Tarquis-Robayna temporary rooms of the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife until next May 12 and which, despite its great scope, only covers a third of the complete collection of works of art from the Desván Blanco cultural space, by Román Hernández, precursor of the initiative.
Thus, poetry can be considered the central axis of this proposal, in which words meet with forms and objects to provoke a reflection on the capacity of human beings to define distances, voids and objects beyond measure or time. Roman Hernandez He declares himself a true “bibliophile”, a passion that is fully reflected in this exhibition and that is part of the portfolio Poem or poetic box for a sculptural space, a piece sponsored by Hernández and dating back to 2007 in which authors such as Arturo Maccanti and José Bento participated. It is a piece with great sentimental and artistic value for the precursor of this initiative who affirms that, for him, “poetry has been a source of continuous inspiration.”
A good part of these works is based on a proposal that Román Hernández has posed to artists from all over the planet with whom he has been able to come into contact in recent times. After the acquisition of about 80 boxes, asked different creators to intervene in these objects in the way they saw fit. Photographers, poets, designers, sculptors and painters are the authors of this collection whose pieces have come to Desván Blanco from countries as far away as Belarus.
The proposals have been as varied as the authors who have carried them out and, while some have disintegrated the boxes to give shape to sculptures in the shape of a woman combing her hair, as is the case with the proposal of the Tenerife painter Hugo Pittiothers have chosen to shape beautiful postcards, as in the case of the tandem formed by the painter Andrés Delgado and the Cordoban poet Victoria Díaz.
This sample also includes those known as artists books, for which the most diverse techniques, materials and procedures are used to offer the public a complete experience, since they can read, see, touch and even smell these pieces. This section includes some pieces made by Román Hernández himself, such as Open holographic willa particular testament handwritten by the author himself, which will entertain the visitor with his most curious occurrences.
In addition, the exhibition presents a tour of some of the most valuable volumes that make up the collection of Román Hernández, who is professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of La Laguna (ULL) and that he also uses to teach classes. This exhibition will be completed with two guided tours led by the author. The first will take place on Sunday, April 21, while the second will be on May 11. They will take place starting at eleven in the morning and prior registration is necessary since the capacity for each activity is 25 people.
