Juan Fontanive

Juan Fontanive is an artist interested in repetitive motion and the sequential. His works explore the mechanisms and sounds of the first films and stop-motion animation. They invite viewers to action and question vision as most important sense, leading us to explore all the senses. For example, in Ruby (2013) and Ornithology (2013) the artist gives life to drawings of hummingbirds, generating movement through a motor that rotates various pages featuring the birds in different positions. The turning pages also create a sound that alludes to the flapping of bird wings, leading to even greater involvment in their flight. According to Fantanive, he produces films–just without the use the light (as they do not happen on screens). His works are closer to the flipbooks, except with an engine responsible for maintaining their constant movement. Thus, Fontanive gives life to masterfully drawn beings.  

The artist has exhibited at the New Museum in New York, the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, the Kinetica Museum in London,  the Royal Academy of Art in London, among others. He has also been awarded the Jerwood Painting Prize, Desmond Preston Drawing Prize, and Louise Wetherbee Phelps Award for Writing.

Courtesy of Carbono Galeria