"Stairway to Heaven" Eugenio Merino ARCO 2010

The Israeli Embassy has complained about the work ‘Stairway to Heaven’

The ARCO modern art fair in Madrid has its first controversy of the year with a work ‘Stairway to Heaven’ from the young Madrid artist, Eugenio Merino.

It shows an Arab on his knees praying, with a Catholic priest on the Arab’s back also knelt in prayer and with a Rabbi in turn standing on the shoulders of the priest.

The work, made from resin, silicone and human hair, has already sold to a Belgian collector for 50,000 € as is exhibited as part of the space from the ADN Gallery in Barcelona, but has also drawn a complaint from the Israeli Embassy in Spain. They have commented that the freedom of expression or freedom of art serves on occasions only as a simple mask for prejudice. ‘An offensive message does not stop the hurt because it pretends to be an artistic work’.

The artist has said he did not want to provoke with the work, saying that his idea was ‘the co-existence of the three religions, each making a common effort to reach God on the literal plain’.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography, the Amigos de ARCOmadrid Association initiated in 1989 an experience called Photographic Glimpses. Each year, they invite several photographers, both promising emerging artists and renowned ones, to cover the fair from the setting up of stands to its closing. The 427 pieces of work by 83 photographers produced so far represents a true documentary archive.

The result has been a unique and personal vision of how the artists experience this commercial event. Some of them create complex scenarios and others simply await their opportunity to start clicking away at that very precise moment of synchronicity. Their perspectives determine their prefered subejct matter, their style and the number pf photograph that each one brings to the mix.. This is what makes the collection of Glimpses so singular. Many of these photographers could never have imagined that ARCOmadrid would provide a such an exceptional motif for creative interest all in itself.