Oriol Vilanova:
Sunsets From… – at artlead SALON
After almost 18 months online, we are really excited to open our physical space called artlead SALON. Every two months, we will present a new edition and a contextualising artwork by the same artist. We inaugurate artlead SALON with Spanish artist Oriol Vilanova, who shows the installation Sunsets From… (2012-ongoing).
Vilanova’s practice is concentrated on collecting, organizing and presenting antique postcards. This obsession inspired Vilanova to move to Brussels in 2013 – so he could browse the flea market of Place du Jeu de Balle every day in search of postcards.
Oriol Vilanova’s collection now includes more than 40,000 postcards, which he classifies in over one hundred sections, and presents accordingly. The cards he collects can depict everything: from kittens to architectural highlights and from archeological artefacts to Swiss flags. These postcards can be seen as mass-produced reliquaries, tangible memories or souvenirs from places or periods. The most interesting section would be the one reserved for cards the artist calls ‘unclassifiable’ – as they are often the starting point for new ways of making sense of this ever-growing collection.
For the opening of artlead SALON, Vilanova created a special installation with almost one thousand postcards from his section of sunsets. Together with Sunsets From…, we present a limited edition entitled Oostende, related to Vilanova’s general section of sunsets but focusing on ‘the Queen of Seaside Resorts’ – as Oostende was traditionally called in Belgium.
Parallel to this presentation at artlead SALON, Vilanova also shows three worker’s jackets at the Brussels Galerie Albert Baronian. The pockets of these jackets are filled with postcards from three old masters: Henri Rousseau, James Ensor and Francisco de Goya – proposing three retrospective exhibitions about the work of the three old masters.
Oriol Vilanova has had solo shows at institutions such as Fundació Tàpies, Barcelona; CA2M, Madrid; M-Museum, Leuven; L’Appartement 22, Rabat; Nottingham Contemporary; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Group shows include FRAC, Nord Pas-de- Calais; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Zurich; Kunsthalle, Mulhouse; FormContent, London; Jeu de Paume, Paris; and MACBA, Barcelona. Upcoming projects for 2018 include a large solo exhibition at the museum Albright-Knox in Bufallo, New York.
artlead SALON
30 Quai de Commerce
Bruxelles (BE)
artlead SALON is open by appointment only.
COLLECT ART BY ORIOL VILANOVA
Oriol Vilanova
Oostende, 2017
(49 x 11 x 3 cm – Edition of 13 copies, signed and numbered by the artist on certificate)
€ 600