Bean of the Primitive Shadow Stage

Javier Marchán 2006

Digital image, dimensions variable; virtual geometry

© Javier Marchán 2006

January 22nd, 2006 marks the opening of Elsewhere/Elders, site-specific installations and objects by Spanish visual artist Javier Marchán in the Wall House, John Hejduk’s masterpiece in Groningen, the Netherlands. Marchán lived in the house for a period of three months, October till January 2006 and was the first visual artist to stay in the house as part of the artist in residency programme of the Wall House #2 Foundation. The exhibition can be visited until March 12, 2006.
 
During his stay in the Wall House, Marchán became fascinated with the tension Hejduk summons up between the two and three dimensionality, a tension referred to by Marchán as the fourth dimension. Fascinating though the spatiality in the Wall House is, Marchán maintains that the building in essence is a two dimensional image, a still life. This tension, the fourth dimension, is what Marchán regards as the principal concept for his work in Elsewhere/Elders, together with the strong sense of symbolism Hejduk invokes in his work.

Marchán turns the inside of the Wall House into a mirrowing dreamland of perspective and geometry, as well as numerology, the effects of natural lighting and organic narrative. All elements together with the architecture and concepts of John Hejduk, evoke a universal symbolic 'an expansive realm beyond the economy of physical space'.  Accompanying the oeuvre is the essay 'When a House Melts Within' and a further work of art '12 & the Secret Walkway' - a set of twelve silk screens.

Javier Marchán (Barcelona, 1967) engages in interdisciplinary aspects of art, design, architecture and theory. His work uses a variety of visual and spatial media such objects, drawings, films, paintings, photographs, graphics, or texts, in the context of installation, sculpture, painting, interior architecture and ornamentation, to newly propose spatial relationships and perceptions to the naturally designed and cultural environment.

Marchán studied Fine Art & Contemporary Critical Theory at Goldsmiths College, United Kingdom, and realised a post-academic research in practice-oriented theory at Jan Van Eyck Academy, the Netherlands. His work has been included in various international group exhibitions before his inaugural solo oeuvre opened at MAK, Austria. He has developed cultural studies and contributed to the educational programmes of institutions such as Goldsmiths College, Tate Modern in the United Kingdom or Frank Moore Institute in the Netherlands.

 A Line of Flowers (The Walk, a Forest)

Javier Marchán 2006

17 dry Heracleum within 2.20meters and 1 meter throughout a space of 9.33 meters x 68 cm; linear geometry

Photograph: Harold koopmans

Deep Blue Sea (La Plaza)

Javier Marchán 2006

17 foam balls, painted, 3cm, position undetermined within a space of 79cm x 256cm; random geometry

Photograph: Harold Koopmans

 WindoWDayDream (Little Alhambra)

Javier Marchán 2006

White Perspex, window piece of 42cm x 37cm;  planar geometry

Photograph: Harold Koppmans

Lost and Finally Found (Robinson Crusoe's Binoculars)

Javier Marchán 2006

Dry Heracleum, organic string, label, 16cm x 12 cm in round glass box 24cm diameter; three-dimensional geometry

Photograph: Harold Koopmans

Between Soup and Drift

Javier Marchán 2006

Mural composition in vinyl, dimemsions 5meters height x 184cm diameter; spiral geometry

Photograph: Harold Koopmans

The Crown (Colonnade)

Javier Marchán 2006

6 paper columns in serpentine arrangement x 6 halos on ceiling; paper 160gr, glass, variable from 4.15meters to 3.10meters, natural projection on ceiling 24cm diameter; serpentine geometry

Photograph: Harold Koopmans

Egg (To Christopher Columbus)

Javier Marchán 2006

Egg shape , acrylic light paste, structure, 91cm x 68cm x 68cm, organic geometry

Photograph: Harold Koopmans

Architecture: John Q. Hejduk 

Supporting works:

12 & the Secret Walkway- Study of Planar Capacity and Allegoric Possibility at Wall House #2- Javier Marchán 2006; set of 12 silk-screen UV, 70cmx50cm artpaper 400gr, signed

When a House Melts Within (The Wall House # 2: Towards the Fourth Dimension of the Sensible) - Essay, Javier Marchán 2006