Lot Essay
The work of Spanish-born artist Dora Garcia, now based in Brussels and Amsterdam, touches on themes as fear, control, authority, dependence, absurdity and power. She studied visual arts at the University of Salamanca and at Los Talleres del Círculo in Madrid. After that she went to the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. She now works as a teacher at the atelier Vrije kunsten at the Hogeschool Sint-Lukas in Brussel. Dora Garcia's work is situated in between performative, text-based an installation art. She is interested in situations that question the traditional relationship between the artist, the artwork and the viewer. Her conceptual pieces consist mostly of photographs, site-specific installations, drawings, performances, video, sound, net.art and text. Language plays an important role. Often her works have the impossibility of communication and the existence of reality as a starting point. By eliminating the boundaries between the active performer and the passive audience, she makes the border between art and life grow vague. Solo exhibitions include: Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam (2008); Galerie für Zeitgenossische Kunst, Leipzig (2008); S.M.A.K., Gent (2006). Some group exhibitions: H Box, Tate Modern, London (2008); 16th Sydney Biennial, Sydney NSW (2008). She had a solo exhibition in de Appel in 1991.