Colecciones de arte

Trajectory

Antwerp (Belgium), 1959

Francis Alÿs is the epitome of the artist-flaneur. During the late eighties Alÿs arrived in Mexico by chance and just as accidentally began a career as a professional artist by taking numerous walks along the streets in the heart of a city with which he was still unfamiliar. At that time, those walks were conceived as a series of anonymous actions that would be documented afterward and of which there remains nothing but a few souvenirs. One of his first walks consisted of dragging a little magnetic metal dog that went along gathering mementos. Later, he would present another version of this walk at the Havana Biennial, where he himself put on some shoes with magnetic soles that picked up diverse material with which Alÿs constructed a sort of bulletin board of mementos. All these traces are far from describing each walk with exactitude; on the contrary, Alÿs transforms them into catalysers of stories and narrations straddling both fact and fiction. This narrative aspect of Alÿs' work is fundamental in that it renders doubtful any concise explanation or interpretation of his pieces, which, although originating in a localised context, can be meaningful in a broader spectrum.

Uno de sus primeros paseos consistió en ir arrastrando un pequeño perro metálico magnetizado que iba recogiendo recuerdos a su paso, más adelante presentó otra versión de este paseo en la Bienal de la Habana poniéndose él mismo unos zapatos con suela magnética que recogieron diversos materiales con los que después Alÿs fabricaría una especie de tablón de recuerdos. Todos estos rastros están lejos de describir con exactitud cada caminata; al contrario, Alÿs los transforma en catalizadores de historias y narraciones que existen a caballo entre el hecho y la ficción. Este aspecto narrativo en el trabajo de Alÿs es fundamental al poner en entredicho cualquier explicación o interpretación cerrada sobre sus piezas que, si bien tienen su origen en un contexto localizado, abren su significación a ámbitos más amplios.

Alÿs developed this idea of multiple interpretations, taking it to the extreme by producing small painting-models that were later interpreted and re-elaborated by various illustrators of advertising billboards in Mexico City. These illustrators transformed as they wished the dimensions, tonalities and even the poses of the subjects Alÿs had proposed. The series The Liar, the copy of the liar was presented as a collaborative artwork and the illustrators even joined Alÿs in a business alliance that in just a few years, until 1977, produced hundreds of paintings. Since then, Alÿs has explored these same elements -the ephemeral, narrative and fiction- through a diversity of media that range from small animations to musical video clips, slide-shows, post-cards and even more corporeal -although equally transitory- interventions, such as the recent pilgrimage to the MoMA Queens, The Modern Procession, or the action La fe mueve montañas (Faith moves mountains) for the most recent Lima Biennial and during which a sand dune was moved by some five hundred volunteers equipped with spades.

Alÿs has participated in numerous events such as the Havana, Venice, Lima and Santa Fe Biennials. His work has been shown in museums and galleries throughout Europe and America. In addition to an important one person show at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City in the late nineties, more recently he has presented an important exhibition at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid entitled El profeta y la mosca. He currently lives and works in Mexico City.

I. M. B.