Frederic Amat

Haim Chanin Fine Arts All Rights Reserved (C) 2003Haim Chanin Fine Arts presents the New York premiere of 100 Papers from India and Other Objects by renowned Catalan artist and theater director Frederic Amat, on view from May 7 through June 19, 2004. The exhibition features the complete Papers from India series and nine sculptural objects.The Papers from India is a series of one hundred 7.5” x 7.5” mixed media works on paper. Each piece is a glimpse into Amat’s journey to South and North India, were he traveled in 2003 and 2000, respectively. The intimate works are presented side by side to create a tapestry of the quotidian. Curvilinear symbols drawn from ancient designs are rendered with India ink over brilliant watercolor washes. Sexual drive, birth and death ebb from the torn newspapers, ticket stubs, and other mementos that are united by Amat’s expressive brushstroke. The nine assemblages presented in the exhibition result from a playful combination of found objects, heterogeneous materials, wax and resins that make them both intriguing and enticing. Amat has traveled and worked in places as diverse as Mexico, Morocco and Brazil. Like a magician, he is able to conjure precious instants of life in those distant lands.Since the seventies, Amat’s work has been exhibited internationally at such institutions as Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Museo Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Barcelona, Fundació La Caixa, Barcelona, Cleveland Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Sarajevo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Oaxaca, Mexico, the Sydney Biennial, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC. The Museo Rufino Tamayo, in Mexico City, the Fundació Joan Miró, in Barcelona, and the Instituto de América in Santa Fe, Granada, have held retrospective exhibitions of his work. He received the prestigious Award of the City of Barcelona in 2001.Amat is a multifaceted creator who has experimented with mediums as diverse as photography, ceramics, mural arts, theater and dance. He directed two films, Journey to the Moon, based on a script by Federico García Lorca, and Foc al càntir by poet Joan Brossa. He directed and designed the set for the opera Oedipus Rex by Stravinsky and Cocteau and for his own production, Zum-zum-ka, performed at the Palacio Carlos V in Granada.Artnet:Selected Exhibitions 2004 New York (U.S.A.), Gal. Haim Chanin Fine Arts. (solo) 2003 Lisbon (Portugal), Museu da Cidade (solo) 2003 Girona, Capilla de Sant Nicolau/ Rambla de la Llibertat. (solo) 2003 Barcelona, Casa Asia. (solo) 2003 Tunez (Tunisia), Musée de la Ville de Tunish. (solo) 2003 Rabat (Morocco), Sala Bab el Kebir (solo) 2003 Lleida, Centre Social y Cultural de la Fundación “la Caixa”.(solo) 2003 Oaxaca (Mexico), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo(solo) 2003 Homenatge a Tàpies, Universitat de Valencia. 2003 A Guinovart, Biblioteca Pública, Lleida 2003 La palabra y su sombra. José Angel Valente: el poeta y las artes, Santiago de Compostela. 2003 30 aniversari, Galeria Cadaqués dos, Cadaqués. 2003 Botella ao Mar, Santiago de Compostela. 2002 Traslaciones: España-México 1977- 2002. Madrid. Palacio Postal, México D.F..(Mexico) 2002 III trienal de Arte Gráfico. la estampa contemporánea. Palacio Revillagigedo. Gijón. 2002 La pasión por el Libro.Museo Naciona Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. 2002 Suite Europa 2002. Obra Gráfica itinerante 2002 Impacte Gaudí.Centre d’art Santa Mónica. Barcelona. 2002 Mexico D.F. (Mexico), Gal. de Arte Mexicano.(solo) 2002 Gallifa, Barcelona, Fundació Llorens Artigas. (solo)