Federico Uribe - Animal Farm

Federico Uribe. From the installation Animal Farm, at La Comunidad. December 4-7, 2008

La Comunidad - Wynwood Art District, Miami

December 4-7, 2008

By Arelys Hernández

Between 1943 and 1944, George Orwell wrote one of his most celebrated books, Animal Farm, based on an idea that he had had in mind since 1937. It was what he himself considered a novella that would amuse when it appeared, although he feared that it would not have political acceptance and, therefore, he was not sure that anyone would dare publish it. It was a kind of satirical novel in the style of an animal fable directed against totalitarianism and especially against Stalin. Over time, this Orwellian work became a classic of world literature, with numerous editions, and was even turned into a movie.

Just as Manor Farm, where the narrative takes place, acquired the name Animal Farm upon being occupied by the rebellious representatives of various zoological species; the Colombian artist, Federico Uribe, selected this title for his unusual, environmental installation exhibited in the art space “La Comunidad” during the most recent Art Basel. As a result of having experienced social circumstances, such as those in Russia and Cuba, this imaginative and very professional creator was able to display his own artistic version of Orwell’s book in some 4000 square feet.

What Uribe generated was not an illustrative rendition comprised of caricatures of human beings and animals, but rather a serious artistic presentation filled with symbolism and meaning. The design - part drama, part humor - of the domestic realm and bestiary constituting the exhibition, reflected episodes of his life (such as, reminiscences of the family farm), an amusing metaphor for our consumer society, as well as his demonstrated aesthetic propensity for the production of images that associate the traditional with the updated, the sense of play with the revelation of existential truths.

In addition to influencing sculptural creation, set design and props, both “pop” and comics serve as sources of inspiration and formal options in the elaboration of his installation. Federico has managed to replicate, in humanized animals, the historical tragicomedy of an alienated social environment, a personal life turned into “destiny programmed from above,” the devaluation of a hypothetical utopia, ”freedom” considered as a subversive alternative and individuals subjected to a corrupting decline in interests and awareness. The material chosen to give shape to his farm’s bipeds and quadrupeds-taken from all manner of useful media, produced by industry and propagated by the market, and likewise daily waste-expresses his rejection of the substitution of the natural by the artificial, common to the urban landscape of our time; while manifesting the important role that Uribe ascribes-in his communication with spectators-to the sensation of beauty, sensuality, texture and technical quality of his pieces.

Animal Farm was an opportunity to appreciate Federico Uribe’s visual poetics and high level of artistry.