META FILTRES
,La Filature (Mulhouse)
25.09.2016 - 30.10.2016
A giant tarpaulin reminiscent of a forest, with bright orange bars superimposed onto black strokes, like prison bars, catching colours. Vivid colours that hunt each other, take on each other, fight for space and light, tightly hung at the wall, until it ends and the tarp falls, naturally, taking space and refusing to let people pass.
This first image is an introduction to a foreign world - the act of Maya - closely related to our memory, taking forms and reproducing them. Framed and reframed, she refers to what surrounds her, takes maps and references the cosmos we live in, with the tension of a sticker almost touching a wall. Brutal shapes pierce fragile tissues and organic cuts leave space to feel what we see. Much of Maya's imagery develops from a staged coincidence – paint and chemicals react with each other, layer on layer, thus giving each piece its universal character. The consistencies of her materials are well-chosen and arranged with detail; it's an emotional discourse of her impressions, her friends, surrounding bodies and landscapes – personal and intimate.
A dark abyss of black painted tenting gives refuge to the icy surface of a glacier whose massiveness is contradicted by the print on a fine fabric, that moves with every person passing. Maya's narrative comes from an inner self and sees off theory as a construct without ignoring its necessity to be understood.
The moving image is another important part of her work. The videos, in themselves imposing layer upon layer, are projected in a black box - an intimate viewing room where the materials of the projection can come to its full effect. The screen itself is brushed with paint by the artist, leading the eye with its structure. The mood of the music reaches all the corners of the showroom.
With this exhibition Maya shows her wide range - from photographs brilliantly working on their own and given space to be seen in singularity to installations that engage with the room they're placed in. Trash and gloss interacting on all levels, seeking the connections and rising from Maya’s conscious and unconscious associations, always giving room to what actually happens right in front of her. This immediate process lets the viewer be part of it; it lets the reaction complete her intentions, non-judgmentally, but with wit.
written by Talin Seigmann
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