Ana Gallardo: a place to live when we get old

Ana Gallardo: A Place to Live When We Get Old highlighted the importance of a body of work that uses minimal resources to achieve a maximum sense of belonging, urgency and social and artistic significance. Over the past decade, Gallardo has created monumental drawings and participative projects that make political statements that are sometimes tacit and sometimes explicit. Her art draws attention to processes of personal transformation that occur to people in vulnerable situations and social issues of neglect and indifference as seen in micro-societies. Gallardo tells life stories that explore the living conditions of those marginalized by society.

The exhibition took up two galleries: the first featured a series of long term projects in which the artist constructed a large emotional and intimate patchwork of personal stories, sometimes linked to her own experiences – in the works CV laboral (Professional CV, 2009), Casa rodante (Motorhome, 2007), Mi tío Eduardo (My Uncle Edward, 2006), Mi padre (My Father, 2007) – and sometimes working with small, marginalized and neglected social groups on which the artist throws a spotlight – in the works A boca de jarro (Point Blank, 2009), Identikit (2009), and the set of works featured in “Sicaria” (Assassin, 2012). The second project featured her large scale project Un lugar para vivir cuando seamos viejos (A Place to Live When We Grow Old) which brings together a set of different practices that allowed her to conceive of an ideal retirement home; a happy, revitalizing place. The Moderno exhibition culminated with her monumental drawing project La laguna de Zempoala (Zempoala Lagoon) in which the artist paid tribute to her mother.

Bio:
Ana Gallardo was born in Rosario in 1958. She began her artistic training at workshops run by Miguel Dávila, Víctor Grippo, Juan Doffo and others before holding solo exhibitions in Argentina and overseas including several at the Galería Alberto Sendrós (2003, 2006 and 2009), the Galería Ignacio Liprandi (2012 and 2014), the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario (2009), Sam Arts Projects, Paris (2013), and the Parasol Unit, London (2012), among others. She also took part in the 56th International Venice Biennale (2015), the 29th International Sao Paulo Biennial (2010) and the 7th Mercosur Biennial (2009).