(un)Solicited - Miguel Olmo
Disorder Gallery kicks off its 6th Year
D/O.55 (un)Solicited, presented by Disorder Gallery as part of Art Month Sydney 2022, introduces a series of new collages exploring cultural hybridity that continue to make use of Miguel’s personal vocabulary of calligraffiti inspired forms.
The series, first conceived when Miguel was working as a secular Visual Arts teacher at both an Islamic and Christian high schools, connect not only different aspects of his personal history, but also the broader past to the present.
For millennia, Spain’s contested territory has been a cultural melting pot. Bridging, either willingly or by force, the divide between Europe and Africa and later the America’s. It is this constant fusion of cultural elements that interest Miguel and is manifested in (un)Solicited. The forms, that make up the collages, although essentially modern in its spirit and influence, owe as much to the development of calligraphy in the islamic world as it does to the seemingly free-form of contemporary urban scrawl that permeates much of our urbanscape.
Miguel’s collages, even though they resemble words you might find sprayed across a wall, don’t actually represent any particular letters or characters. Like a Victorian-era cabinet of curiosities, the forms are pinned in place in an attempt to fix them in time, frozen for prosperity. Removed from their context, and presented as an extinct specimen for future generations to ponder at, are at the same time devoid of any meaning yet pregnant with multiple interpretations.
(un)Solicited VI advertising material, photographic paper, pins, enamel paint, acrylic on foam board, 2022
1000 mm x 698 mm (unframed)
Miguel is an Australian contemporary artist of Spanish heritage working across diverse media including sculpture, photography, video, sound and other two dimensional formats. Miguel often draws from his Spanish heritage and experience living in the diaspora to explore memory, time, ephemerality and cultural hybridity.
He holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts (CoFA - University of NSW) and Bachelor of Visual Arts from Western Sydney University. His work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and abroad and selected for a number of awards including Rookwood Sculpture Walk, Sculpture in the Vineyards, Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award and Fisher’s Ghost Art Award.
Residency locations include Murcia, Spain (2017) and Penrith Regional Gallery (2019). His work appears in private and public collections including the Cultural Centre Ramon Alonso Luzzy, Cartagena, Spain. Miguel’s multi-modal practice often leads him to work on diverse projects and roles including education, arts management, and curating.
Join us for opening night of D/O.55 (un)Solicited
Thursday March 3rd from 6pm-8pm
(un)Solicited will be on display from
March 3rd through March 12th at Disorder Gallery