Anatomic Relationships: "Eve and Adam in the Age of AIDS" 1995	Anatomic Relationships: "The Ten Commandments of the Foot" (Open Panels), 1996	Anatomic Relationships: "The Ten Commandments of the Foot" (Closed Panels), 1996
Mind the Gap - Shroud III 1995	Mind the Gap - Shroud IV 1995	Mind the Gap - Shroud V 1995
Mind the Gap - Shroud VI 1995	Mind the Gap - Shroud VII 1996	The Tribulations of Barbie or The Way to A Man's Heart is through his Stomach (Closed Panels), 1996
	The Tribulations of Barbie or The Way to A Man's Heart is through his Stomach (Open Panels), 1996

A R T I S T ' S   S T A T E M E N T   :   C a t y a   P l a t e   1 9 9 7

The main focus in my work is the fragmented human body. I use it to expose and investigate what is hidden underneath its surface. Literally speaking, the subcutaneous parts are out in the open, but in a deeper sense its cultural and social taboos are being uncovered. Death and sexuality are two of the taboos that I address in my work, and so is AIDS.

The Anatomic Relationships represent an ongoing series of diptychs and polyptychs. I take photographs of isolated, dissected human body parts from medical books and depict them in painstaking detail and in an oversized fashion onto canvas with acrylic paint. Each painting consists of at least two separate panels as it takes at least two to form a relationship. So far, there are three diptychs, composed of sensory and sexual organs, and two polyptychs, whose central subjects are the human foot and the human digestive system. The words on top of the paintings create a dialogue between the individual panels as well as between the panels and the viewer. The viewer is expected to interact with the polyptychs by opening their panels.

While I was living in London, I was inspired by the recorded words 'mind the gap' from the London Underground to create the Mind The Gap project, which consists of seven shrouds. The continuous warning of these words, that the writer will get injured in the gap between the platform and the entrance to the train, acts as a constant reminder of our own mortality. I have used these words as a metaphor for the gap in the shrouds that is the opening for the head. These funerary tunics hang from the ceiling in a circular configuration and are made of materials that are reminiscent of a particular burial rite or general association with death. For example: raffia is used in Madagascar to make skirts which are placed inside the coffin; the black plastic is a reminder of the body bag; the artificial grass surrounds the coffin during the funeral; the leathery consistency of latex is a reminder of the skin's decomposition and dehydration. Internal armatures provide a three-dimensional, inflated, but empty appearance. Each piece presents a particular bone structure of the human anatomy and all seven items add up to a complete human skeleton.

The (not pictured) Ars Moriendi in Numbers series (Latin for 'Art of Dying...') consists of nine unstretched and embroidered canvases which hang from the wall like shrouds. This work is inspired by the 15th Century Ars Moriendi, the so-called European Book of The Dead, which consists of literary and visual instructions for the dying individual to prepare the soul for impending death. In these paintings I juxtapose the spiritual wisdom from the Middle Ages with our modern society's obsession with technology and immortality, which is symbolized by the Hindu-Arabic numbers. The result is an amalgamation of cross-cultural burial rites with personal images of death hinting that our century is not so different from the Middle Ages. Today's AIDS epidemic might pick out anyone as its victim, just as the Plague did then.

Catya Plate
1996


A R T I S T ' S   R E S U M E   :   C a t y a   P l a t e   1 9 9 7

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1997	"THE CONDITIONS OF PANDEMICS:TOWARDS THE MILLENIUM" Longwoods Art Gallery, Bronx, New York.
1997	"ARTIST IN THE MARKETPLACE- 17th ANNUAL EXHIBITION" The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York.
1996	"PLATE SHOW II" The Centre Gallery, Lochgelly, Scotland. "FRANKLIN FEST" Tribeca Arts Festival, New York, New York. "ART ON THE INTERNET" Arthouse Electronic Art Gallery
1995	"THE WAY WE LIVE NOW" Gardner Arts Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, England. "SEX, HEALTH AND EDUCATION" CoolTan Arts, London, England. "OPEN EYE" International Mail Art Project, Tokyo, Japan. "THE ART SHOW" Lewisham Arthouse, London, England. "SLUMP" CoolTan Arts, London, England.
1994	"CD3" The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1993	"CD2" The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1991	"IMAGES OF POWER - MEMORIES" Right Bank Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.
1989	"7UP AND COMING" Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, New York. "SOHO ARTISTS' CARNIVAL" Crosby Street Studio, New York, New York.
1987	"IMPRESSIONS" Studio Galerie, Koln, Germany.
1986	"CONFIGURACION" Galeria Oliva Mara, Madrid, Spain.
1985	Studio Galerie, Koln, Germany. Curated by Jorg Immendorff.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1997	"ARTISTS (web) SPACE" Artists Space, New York, New York.
1994	"ARS MORIENDI IN NUMBERS" Alternative Arts Gallery, London, England. "ARTIST FOR A WEEK" The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1989	"INSTALLATION" The Installation Room, New York, New York.
1986	"BAREFOOT APPRECIATION" Studio Edith Osterhues, Koln, Germany.
1985	"THE URGE TO BREAK OUT..." Galerie Appendix, Wuppertal, Germany. "THE SOUND OF ART IN PROGRESS" Studio Edith Osterhues, Koln, Germany.
AWARDS
1996.	AIM (Artist in the Marketplace) Award, Bronx, New York.
1995.	SLUMP (South London Undiscovered Masterpieces Prize), judged by Sarah Kent (TimeOut Art Editor) and David Thorp (South London Gallery), London, England.
1987-89.	Fulbright Scholar (full grant), New York, New York.
COLLECTIONS
	Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc., New York, New York. Printed Matter bookstore at Dia, New York, New York. Institute of International Education, New York, New York. Studio Edith Osterhues, Koln, Germany. Galerie Rolf Muller, Koln, Germany.
REVIEWS AND PUBLICATIONS
	Andrew J., "Arts by Andrew" The Prisoner, London. Volume 1, Issue 4 1995. Stephanie Brown, "Publications quarterly; Artists' Books", Artists Newsletter, London. February 1995. Iain Gale, "Sound Ideas", The Independent, Edinburgh. November 1993. P. Kushner, "Behind the Velvet Ropes", Manhattan Cable TV, New York. March 1990. W. Kruger, "An Interesting Variety of Artists at the Studio Gallery", Kolner Stadtanzeiger, Germany. May 1987. Amine Haase, "Koln Cultural Notes", Kolner Stadtanzeiger, Germany. April 1987. M. Schmidt, "The Urge to Break Out...", Wuppertaler Rundschau, Germany. May 1985.
EDUCATION
1987, B.F.A.	Werkkunstschule Koln, Fine Arts Dept. Koln, Germany.
1987- 1988.	School of Visual Arts, Fine Arts Dept. New York, New York.
PERSONAL
	Born, 1962 in Barcelona, Spain. Citizenship, German.