INFO

• “The German Series”, Teo Wainfred, Buenos Aires, 2011

• Die deutsche Reihe (The German Series) U Turn ArteBA , Agustin Pérez Rubio, Buenos Aires, 2014

“La serie alemana (German Series)”, Teo Wainfred, Buenos Aires, 2011

The German Series

Hernán Marina’s work refers directly to heroic imagery of the figure of the artist, deploying an inner iconography that has been underlying his work for years.

Today, the erotic body of the hero is transfigured in the presence of the partenaire in scenes that uncover the very real presence of an other. It is possible that the principle of this transformation is transfiguration at the same time that it is a public staging, scenes of sex scene as pure, performative exercise.

Concise images displace violence in the direction of asceticism. If this intersection has been occurring since its origin in the history of subjugation, it is a direct reference to texts regarding religious presence, which incidentally re-link the theme to elevation and mysticism. For this reason, the whip has no apologetic presence here; we see sacrifice and offering instead.

Body and text are interlaced in these scenes. Body language is shaped using words’ most formal aspect to suggest ritual. The texts Marina chooses to traverse these scenes sacralize the action from within, referring directly to the origin of accounts of flagellation and torment. The tortured bodies find meaning in their first erotic scene: ascetic and mystical practices that lead to an ultimate state of desire and ecstasy.

Beyond these historical references, the theater of flagellants converts this work into something more than an essay on pain. It strips personal willpower bare and reconstructs it in public. It speaks of men in that ultimate gesture of affection that only comes to be known once the highest level of control has been relaxed, one’s own body abandoned and placed in the dominator’s hands. This gesture of love only recognizes absolute trust on the part of the obedient. It is the posthumous caress received only after one’s own willpower has been sacrificed in the will of the other.

Fleeting encounter.
Ecstatic repose.
Caress between men.

 Teo Wainfred

Die deutsche Reihe (The German Series) U Turn ArteBA , Agustin Pérez Rubio, Buenos Aires, 2014

Hernan Marina (Buenos Aires 1967) is a visual artist with a strong sociological background. For many years, he devoted himself to market and public opinion research, organizational development, etc.. His work could be considered as an in depth analysis or a radiograph of episodes that have shaped his thoughts and the meaning of his own approach to the art fact itself. From a more analytical perspective first, and then from a more personal point of view.

The German Series is going to be presented for the first time as an installation with engravings on copper plates. This is a project has assumed different shapes and formats, including a book (Arta Ediciones, 2011). The project includes animations, neon installations, drawings and printed work.

The series condenses many of the main concepts that are a constant in his work: violence, authority, representation, and the uses of communication codes. This series is not a manual of spiritual prescriptions, not even a catalog of body postures related to a specific sexual practice. It is not even a visual essay on a certain typography. Nevertheless, the combination of those elements is what makes this series a unique body of work.

 Agustin Pérez Rubio