Si no bailas conmigo, no bailas conmigo, 2021
Installation view: The Ecologies of Peace. Works from the TBA21 Collection, Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía C3A, Córdoba, Spain, 2024. Photo: Imagen Subliminal (Rocio Romero y Miguel de Guzmán).
Collection
Pencil on mirror polished stainless steel, textile, glass
336 x 111 x 85 cm
The work Si no bailas conmigo, no bailas conmigo was first exhibited on the occasion of the artists solos show, entitled "UBUNTU, UN RÊVE LUCIDE « Six continents ou plus » at the Palais de Tokyo, inspired by the now famous paraphrase of the words of the anarchist and feminist writer Emma Goldman (1869-1940): “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” The totemic, “dancing” sculptures, proudly decked with accessories, bear witness to the forgotten and overshadowed women fighters in liberation struggles and movements from the 20th century to now. While these works may initially look like large hyperrealist photographs, when looked at more closely, there are meticulously hand-drawn pencil lines on the surfaces of cut-up aluminum. Via this original technique, Daniel Otero Torres succeeds in creating a disjunction of contexts: the images do not depict just one female character but instead associate several known or unknown combatants in a visual collage made up of archives linked to different historical periods and events. Stray dogs (a reality in towns and villages in many countries) produced in ceramic symbolize the figure of the pariah, excluded but free. The presence of grass, known for its great resistance, besides the sculptures, embodies the resurgence of “the fighting spirit.”
336 x 111 x 85 cm
The work Si no bailas conmigo, no bailas conmigo was first exhibited on the occasion of the artists solos show, entitled "UBUNTU, UN RÊVE LUCIDE « Six continents ou plus » at the Palais de Tokyo, inspired by the now famous paraphrase of the words of the anarchist and feminist writer Emma Goldman (1869-1940): “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” The totemic, “dancing” sculptures, proudly decked with accessories, bear witness to the forgotten and overshadowed women fighters in liberation struggles and movements from the 20th century to now. While these works may initially look like large hyperrealist photographs, when looked at more closely, there are meticulously hand-drawn pencil lines on the surfaces of cut-up aluminum. Via this original technique, Daniel Otero Torres succeeds in creating a disjunction of contexts: the images do not depict just one female character but instead associate several known or unknown combatants in a visual collage made up of archives linked to different historical periods and events. Stray dogs (a reality in towns and villages in many countries) produced in ceramic symbolize the figure of the pariah, excluded but free. The presence of grass, known for its great resistance, besides the sculptures, embodies the resurgence of “the fighting spirit.”