A small figure lies contentedly under a blanket at the base of a 12-foot-high star sculpture towering above him as part of a newly opened site-specific installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver.
Could it be the little guy is dreaming the multicolored plastic streamers, Christmas lights, giant white star and the rest of the scene around him? Or is it a slightly skewed reality?
“We always like to work between the real and the fictional,” said Rosario Marquardt. “This place could be real but it’s also a fiction in the sense that there are different scales and perspectives.
“Which is the real scale? The one of the star or our scale? So, all this makes this space a kind of dreamspace.”
This vibrant fantastical construct raises an array of intriguing questions, but don’t expect Marquardt and Roberto Behar, the other half of the internationally recognized husband-and-wife artistic team, to provide any clear-cut answers.
“We’re not interested in fixing the meaning of the project,” said Behar. “We’re interested in the space as a kind of platform for different meanings to exist. The more associations that a project promotes, the better the project will be.”
Visitors enter through a narrow, darkened corridor and are thrust into a large, open room, four layers of brightly colored streamers hanging floor to ceiling on all four walls and Christmas lights (the old-fashioned kind with big bulbs) carefully strung along the ceiling.
On the far side of the room is the giant, multipoint white star, which dwarfs the five standing 20-inch figures and the one sleeping. Glitter spread on the floor underneath further enlivens the scene.
A few benches, upholstered in a way reminiscent of Gio Ponti, the Italian architect who designed the original Denver Art Museum building, provide a place for viewers to relax and take in the unexpected panorama.
The artists describe the look as a kind of “crossover aesthetic,” with its quirky mix of Ponti chic, dollar-store materials and loose echoes of the color-field and pattern and decoration painting movements.
The festive spirit of the work is hardly accidental. The installation is titled “The Peace Project,” and is meant to serve as a kind of experimental social space and promote a sense of optimism.
Behar said that stars serve as universal symbols of hope and have many associations in American culture, including the familiar Walt Disney song “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
“It’s difficult to think of any of those but in a positive way, so we wanted to marry that sense of hope with the idea of peace,” Behar said.
The Argentine natives, who both wear similar black-framed glasses, have known each other since childhood. Their closeness is evident in the way they anticipate what the other is about to say and sometimes complete each other’s thoughts.
“We consider ourselves Miamians and Americans born in Argentina,” Behar said. “We understand we have a strong accent. We are in a forever process of learning English.”
Marquardt described Miami as a kind of “in-between country,” with its strong ties to the United States and Latin America, and that in-between quality runs through almost every aspect of their art.
As noted, this installation exists somewhere between reality and fiction. It merges many different cultural traditions, including the streamers, which are traditionally used as curtains in Argentinian groceries and butcher shops.
The in-betweenness even applies to the innate way the two approach making art. Both are trained architects, and they work on what Marquardt calls the “thin line” between architecture and art.
“So for us, architecture is an artistic discipline,” Behar said. “We understand the world has become somewhat different and that it is often the case that architecture is more concerned with development, or in simple words, making money.
“For us, it’s different. We think of architecture as a medium as much as painting or installation. All these are mediums through which one speaks a certain idea.”
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
| “The Peace Project”
ART EXHIBITION|Site-specific installation by Miami artists Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt|Temporary Contemporary, Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, 15th and Delgany streets|$5 general public, $3 students and seniors and free for members and children younger than 12; admission is 1 cent for all non-members the first Saturday of each month|11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5:30 p.m. Sundays; through July 1; 303-298-7554 or mcadenver.com.
