Biography
Alejandra Tavolini is born in Rosario.
In 2000 she graduated as Bachelor of Fine Arts, U.N.R.
In 2002 obtained the “Improvement Grant for Artists and Writers of the Interior of the Country” awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Receives Regional Award for Painting (“Argentine Award for Visual Arts”) OSDE Foundation (2006), the First Prize at the "Salon Nacional de San Nicolas" (2006) and mentions in the 'Cultural Chandon Cordoba' (2004) and the "National Hall of Rosario LVI” (2002).
From 2004 to 2005 she attended the workshops held by El Levante, coordinated by the artists Mauro Machado and Graciela Carnevale. She has also done specializing workshops with Daniel Garcia (2001 and 2002), Claudia del Rio (1998, 1999 and 2000) and Carlos Meneguzzi (1995 and 1996).
She was as guest artist for the Cycle "Talks with the Artists" conducted at the MACRO (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Rosario) in April 2005.
Currently she is a chair professor of the “Three-Dimensional Design” and “Human Figure” subjects at the Design School of Rosario. City where she lives.
Vision of art
1. Choose a work that represents you, describe it in relation to its format and materiality, its relation with time and space, its style and theme; detail its production process.
Shark (or “About the study of the protagonists...”) is the chosen work. This work, from 2006, consists of a glass box reinforced with lacquered wood, placed on a white wooden base for easy viewing. Within this urn a stuffed toy shark is immersed in formalin. Its overall dimensions are: 65cm x 110cm x 30cm. In this work I perform two operations: 1. Convert a teddy animal into a “scientific object” –by immersing it in formalin and exposing it to scrupulously observation-. 2. Reflect on my position as an artist. The second one materialized through the appointment “at teddy scale” of the work of one of the paradigmatic artists of contemporary art: Damien Hirst (www.damienhirst.com). Damien Hirst in his "Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (1991), of the series “Natural History” puts a tiger shark in formaldehyde in a box with features similar to the one I use to show my teddy /shark. I refer to the differences between two realities: The one of Damien Hirst, producer of monumental size works of enormous costs of production and quoted in millions of pounds; the "the most influential person in the art world today" as the selection made by the magazine 'Art Review' in 2005. And my own situation as an artist.
2. In general terms, how would you suggest to approach your work?
I think my work can be read from various conceptual and aesthetic aspects. But I do not want to suggest any particular way of reading not to prioritize one aspect over another.
3. In reference to your work and your position in the national and international art fields, what tradition do you recognize yourself in? Who are your contemporary referents? What artists of previous generations are of interest to you?
Among my international contemporary reference are Damien Hirst and Annette Messager. From Argentina: Nicola Costantino, Daniel Garcia, Francis Bacon and Auguste Schiavoni would be my chosen ones among the artists of earlier generations.
