Núria Rion is part of the Contemporary Artists Collection of the MAMT
The exhibition "Contemporary Artists" becomes a major showcase of the creativity and talent we have in our own country, giving visibility to women creators and reclaiming their figure and work.
It is a new initiative by the Museum of Modern Art of the Diputació de Tarragona (MAMT) to highlight the role of women in the world of art, culture, and, in general, in all the relevant fields of our society.
A catalogue of artists that includes Alba G. Corral, Alba Sotorra, Ariadna Parreu, Ester Ferrando, Gemma Clofent, Lídia Porcar, Mari Chordà, MariaElena Roqué/Mer, Mariona Moncunill, Montserrat Cortadellas, Montse Gomis, Núria Rion, Raquel Friera, Ro Caminal, and Vanessa Pey.
You can find more information on the website dipta.cat/mamt/exposicions/artistes-contemporans.
Some of the artists present themes with ecological concerns: earth, water, iron, deserts, fragile nature. They have approached with respect works around personal memory, symbolic biographies, and secret discourses. Formal austerity, vivid colors, and energetic gestures are balanced. Photographic and videographic imagery takes center stage, alongside the presence of material techniques and the poetics of bodies and objects. We see urban landscapes, rural memory, non-places, ruins. Vital works with conceptual essays, social critique, all presented with firmness but from a perspective of serenity, reflection, care, and beauty.
Among these artists, we find Núria Rion, a professor at EADTarragona for more than 10 years and head of the Applied Arts to the Wall vocational training program (CFGS).
Her work is based on memory and the construction of identity. The territory is very present in her work. She can be found both moving maps and archives, as well as extracting imprints from the landscape. She works with organic material collected from her surroundings, which she incorporates into the creative process. The results are usually paintings, drawings, and photographs, which can function as series or plastic research processes. She also creates installations with sets and superpositions of maps and drawings on different papers and replicas of surfaces through frottage on paper as a mediator or direct molds using resin or latex. The creation of the recording materials is done through ritualized actions that become performances without an audience.
She holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona and has done solo projects, including at the Sala de Arte Joven in Barcelona (2001); Can Felipa, Poblenou, Barcelona (2007); Museum of Modern Art of Tarragona (2010); The Grey Square Gallery, Tarragona (2015); L&B Gallery, Barcelona, and CRAI of the URV, Tarragona (2016); Addend, la Morera de Montsant (2017); Roda d’Art, traveling through historical study centers in the Camp de Tarragona region (2017); Centre de Lectura de Reus (2018); Torre Vella, Salou (2019); El Círcol de Reus (2023). She has also participated in Art&Gavarres, Estampa, Madrid (2010); Present continu, Galeria Pinyol, Reus (2012); Plural femení, MAMT, Tarragona (2016); Cabanades, Belltall (2021); Generation Re, Museu de la Vida Rural, l’Espluga de Francolí (2022).
Núria defines her work as follows:
"Skin of rock is the record of any point along the way, extracting a mold from its surface. In this case, a stone surface located in the middle of a path marked with its geographical references."
The work belongs to a series of pieces in which Núria Rion made three-dimensional records of fragments of paths using fiberglass and latex molds. The resulting mold is colorless and is later painted with natural earths. It is presented hanging on the wall, with the data of the original location and a photograph of the molding process. This work is related to the recovery of maps and a series of paintings that simplify the paths of old rural roads.
You can see her work on the L&B GALLERY website or on her social media @nuriarion.
