Dionisio González fifth solo exhibition at Galerie Richard New York is about New York City through two Series of works: Dialectical Landscape and Thinking Central Park from June 28 to August 27, 2017.
Skyscrapers and Central Park co-exist dialectically. "Central Park is essentially a void. A 4000 x 800-metre void. It was conceived on the basis of an idea of spatiality where density was to be developed, but it is the density of the buildings of Manhattan, in their hyper-growth expansion, that has traced out that recreational rectangle for the dispersion of Homo faber. That is, the park is a void because it works as a courtyard inside the urban detention". In Thinking Central Park the artist fills the space with constructions considered as shelters. At the opposite in Dialectical Landscape he adds some empty spaces for recreational or mobility purposes.
Citing Walter Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer, and Robert Smithson's article "Frederick Law Olmsted and the Dialectical Landscape", the artist considers Central Park and new York landscape as a place indifferent to any formal ideals, a place for multiplicity, opportunism and unexpected creativity. The Dialectical Landscape is a series of six small black and white extraordinary New York City landscapes. Each work envisions a specific focus: The extension of Central Park downtown on top of the buildings, another Central Park on top of Buildings directed West-East Manhattan, Super High line pedestrian elevated paths, elevated modern subways at high speed, and so on. It is a city with different heights of frameworks and activities, a city three-dimensionally connected.
We would like to see much more as they open and stimulate the mental field of imagination and possibilities to the viewers. Dialectic Landscape is obviously his most Digital photographic works. The amount of transformation from various images in order to create these artworks suppose so much work, dedication, and perseverance.
As much as Dionisio González creates new empty spaces in the already dense urban landscape In "Dialectical Landscape", in "Thinking Central Park" he fills the empty space of Central Park with four refuges: " Based on four visions of Central Park: Walter Benjamin, Robert Smithson, J.D. Salinger and Lady Gaga, the idea of the refuge is proposed as a monument and aerial extension of the park by the way of a dialectical resource". The term refuge is perfect as they don't have an obvious specific use, they stand with a moderate size comparatively to the landscape of Central Park. Although they might look like space ships from aliens, people in the park obviously feel used to them as part of the wonders of Central Park. The inclusion of these refuges is perfect in consideration of the landscape as well as the place of the people involved in it. "Lady Gaga's Belvedere" on Central Park Lake is worth seeing.
Dionisio González lives and works in Seville. His work has been exhibited in many prestigious institutions and museums including The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, The Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCCA), Toronto, the Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo (MASP), The Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO), The Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux.