Federico Acal at Bruthaus Gallery

12 Stick Horizontal 04_Federico Acal

Artist: Federico Acal

Exhibition title:  FA_Symbol

Venue:  Bruthaus Gallery, Waregem, Belgium

Date: November 15 – December 20, 2015

Photography: images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Bruthaus Gallery, Waregem

I’m a Gemini, so I suppose I have a certain tendency toward ambivalence, paradox, and tension tattooed onto my body. This is why I contradict myself all the time. I change my mind almost every moment. Decision making is a difficult task which I try to tackle as well as I can with the time which has been given to me.

***

FA_Symbol presents a selection of recent works which inhabit a vague sense of time. A temporality linked to speculation and mutation. The future of the works in the exhibition are not attached to technological advance or any kind of scientific progression but rather to a sense of intuition, soothsaying and imagination. We want to believe in possible futures. It is belief and faith more than certainty. We have a need to project ourselves into the past and future; we interchange them constantly. Past, present and future seem to have lost their meaning. Time is fragmented, changeable, esoteric and cosmic. Anticipating or going back in time belongs to the realm of magic.

FA_Symbol is also a symbol. Like any other symbol, it suggests another idea, another belief, another action or entity. It hides and evades itself as well as evokes known and unknown meanings. It’s slippery and exchangeable. It’s vague and concise at the same time; brief but demands our attention. It shows a double aspect. Concepts and words are symbols but just as visions, rituals and objects. Symbols mirror society, we devote ourselves to them almost every day without knowing. We are influenced by symbols, magic and astrology. Our mood is always changing according to the rotation periods of stars and planets.

FA_Symbol is the symbol of Aquarius. It also refers to the current or forthcoming astrological age. According to some Astrologers we are now in the Age of Aquarius. However they don’t seem to agree when it starts or ends. Astrologers believe that astrology affects mankind, possibly by influencing the rise and fall of civilizations or cultural tendencies. Traditionally, Aquarius is associated with electricity, computers, flight, democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealism, modernization, and a long list of contemporary qualities. An unclear concept that suits our lack of linear temporality.

***

Throwing the bones on the floor is a beginning, it is influencing but not deterministic. We might foresee an image of happiness, so it is worth trying.

01 Gallery Install 04_Federico Acal

02 Gallery Install 00_Federico Acal

03 Gallery Install 03_Federico Acal

04 Divination Device 01_Federico Acal

05 Divination Device 02_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Divination Device, 2015

06 Divination Device 03_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Divination Device, 2015 (detail)

09 Divination Device 06_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Divination Device, 2015 (detail)

10 Stick Horizontal 07_Federico Acal

11 Stick Horizontal 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Recalling previous lives, 2015

12 Stick Horizontal 03_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Recalling previous lives, 2015 (detail)

14 Stick Horizontal 05_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Recalling previous lives, 2015 (detail)

15 Gallery Install 05_Federico Acal

16 Gallery Install 07_Federico Acal

17 Stick Vertical 02_Federico Acal

18 Stick Vertical 05_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Recalling previous lives, 2015

19 Stick Vertical 04_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Recalling previous lives, 2015 (detail)

20 Stick Vertical 03_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Recalling previous lives, 2015 (detail)

21 Painting 02_Federico Acal

22 Painting Karma 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Karma, 2015

23 Painting Idol 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Idol, 2015

24 Painting Spaceship 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Spaceship, 2015

25 Painting Mutation 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Mutation, 2015

26 Painting Cat 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Cat, 2015

27 A Painting Third Eye 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Third Eye, 2015

27 Painting 03_Federico Acal

28 Gallery Install 06_Federico Acal

31 Dont Over Think Just Over Feel 05_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Don’t over think, just over feel (trailer), 2015

Federico Acal, Don’t over think, just over feel (trailer), 2015

32 Install Office 02_Federico Acal

33 Age of Aquarius 02_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Age of Aquarius, 2015

34 Age of Aquarius 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Age of Aquarius, 2015 (detail)

36 Wheel 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Wheel, 2015

38 Install Office 01_Federico Acal

39 Avocado Painting 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Avocado Painting, 2015

40 Avocado Painting 02_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, Avocado Painting, 2015 (detail)

41 So Long 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, So Long, 2015

43 Vitrine 01_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, An image of happiness in Negative, 2015

44 Vitrine 02_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, An image of happiness in Negative, 2015

45 Vitrine 03_Federico Acal

Federico Acal, An image of happiness in Negative, 2015 (detail)