Martin Kazanietz's Not So Stagnant Stories in Madrid
February 17, 2021 | in Painting
The last time we checked with our friend Martin Kazanietz at his home in Patagonia, Argentina, he shared with us a new body of work that is based on the random images of his surrounding that he's been taking with his phone. Half-year later, that type of work is comprising his arguably most ambitious exhibition to date,
Historias Estancadas (Stagnant Stories), on view through February 26th at Institut Français in Madrid.
"I see Argentina as a place full of beauty and complexity in its contradictions," Kazanietz told us in an interview in our Fall 2018 issue. Combined with his love for fútbol this love for his homeland sparked the interest to paint the lives of people involved in the local amateur league, capturing its humor, sadness, romance, folklore, and rituals. In the recent months of social distancing such focused interest "watered out" towards taking a wider, more open view of the world around him and capturing it with his phone. This way of looking at and appreciating the world around eventually evolved into creating the work that captures all the random scenes taking place in front of him.