ANGELA DE LA CRUZ

Barricade the title of de la Cruz’s exhibition at Krinzinger Gallery explores the polarised and defensive world we live in. The word ‘barricade’ means a fortification hastily made to obstruct or to defend oneself, often constructed with domestic and urban objects. Its etymology comes from the French word ‘barrique’, in Spanish ‘barrica’, literally meaning ‘made of barrels’. In the history of European revolutions, the barricade stands as a symbol of insurrection and a weapon of the weak, allowing the more marginalised members of society—the urban poor and often women—to seize power temporarily.

De la Cruz’ Barricade presents us with different types of structures using furniture and paintings that have been disjointed and neatly reassembled to create defensive shields. These works convey the vulnerability of having been disarticulated and the fragility of their new assemblage. The series Barricade is displayed in a row standing on the floor, preventing us from moving freely in the room. These paintings have been meticulously cut into strips and re-stretched onto frame fragments. Forcefully standing on our path, these works are exposed, and we find ourselves surrounding them. Their defiant and defensive nature is uneasy—when a barrier is drawn, two sides are created—we, the viewers, may be the aggressors.