Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Abanico [Fan]

Image caption
ANA PRADA

Abanico [Fan]

  • 1995
  • Plastic kitchen tongs and plasticine
  • 23,2 x 48 x 4,5 cm
  • Cat. E_111
  • Acquired in 1995
By:
Beatriz Espejo

Ana Prada’s work starts from a meticulous observation of the objects that surround us in our everyday activities, from which she extracts a simple, ambiguous, diverse array including staples, balloons, plastic cutlery and glasses, thumbtacks, tea bags, nail files and pencil sharpeners. She then subtly manipulates, arranges and serialises them to achieve results that waver between reality and illusion. She began by producing exclusively sculptures, such as Fan (1995), made using plasticine and tongs, but the effect of time on the fleeting nature of her materials led her to turn to photography, which also enabled her to introduce a new distorting element in the form of scale. 

Beatriz Espejo

 
By:
Roberto Díaz
Ana Prada
Zamora 1965

Ana Prada majored in Sculpture at the Fine Arts Faculty at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (1983-1988), and went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts at Goldsmiths’ College in London (1989-1991), where she has lived since then. Her work, primarily based on object sculpture, but also featuring photography, uses household and everyday articles (curlers, hair clips, nylon stockings, pencil sharpeners, etc.) as its main subject matter; they are no longer perceived as units as they are decontextualised from their setting and their usual functions are cancelled out as a result of her handling, repetition, juxtaposition and arrangements, forming various structures ranging from the rigorously geometric to the organic. Prada creates surprising conceptual associations, which in terms of form denote strategies arising from minimalism, pop art, surrealism and conceptual art, but she shifts them to the female universe, as in her series of photographs entitled A Feminine Touch (2001-2003). The approach is strengthened by the fragility and temporary nature of many of her sculptures, which are destroyed after being exhibited, in such a way that the industrial is set against the manual in their preparation, in relation to the origin of the objects that she uses. The simplicity of their appearance contrasts with the complexity of the new meanings generated by a new order with overtones of irony.

Prada’s work came to the fore with her participation in the São Paulo Biennial (1994) and her solo show at the Reina Sofía (Madrid, 1995). It has since between exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Witte de With (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1996), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York, 1998) and the Sala Parpalló exhibition room (Valencia, 2010). She has also taken part in group exhibitions at the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Valencia, 1995), the Castilla y León Museum of Contemporary Art (León, 2007) and the Helga de Alvear Foundation Visual Arts Centre (Cáceres, 2011-2012).

Roberto Díaz

 
 
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol.3.