Preliminary thoughts

The particular body of work Stephanie saw in my studio back in November 2016 might have come to its end as I just finished the five big-scale drawings (120x250 cm) on drywall that will constitute a fundamental part of my upcoming show at Slowtrack (Madrid).   

Work in progress. January 2017.

Fundamental to the show is the publication of Atmospheric Meditations. Before the Present (338U- 710 U)  a book that includes two years worth of drawings: that is, all the paper pieces I have done since my exploration on atmospheric conditions began.

In February 2015 I was invited by El Museo de Los Sures (New York City) to develop a project that grappled with the specifics of the place where El Museo is located. Situated in Williamsburg, a highly gentrified neighborhood that is undergoing major changes, El Museo has emerged as a space of resistance as its fundamental mission is to keep the memory of the neighborhood alive. Faced which such setting it became clear to me that my explorations had to focus on the fundamental conditions that allow life to happen and thrive and so air and water became fundamental. Mine became thus an investigation on oceanic and atmospheric conditions, on how they could be rendered visible, and it started as a collection of dots (sometimes bubbles) and lines, and had no colors.

Wave 1: East River. 26.07.2014-11.08.2014. Drawing on paper. 21x29,7. 2014

At a certain point I began filming the snow falling against the grey NYC sky. In the videos, the wind turned the snowflakes into white lines, which seemed like a perfect form of mark making. It was then that white lines emerged as the quintessential form of rendering the air visible, of making it explicit while allowing for time to be registered. Each flake was suspended in its journey to the ground, each stroke a recorded instant. 

Snowdrawings1. Drawing on paper. 15,2 x 22,9 cm. 2015

From that moment on I adopted this form of drawing: a succession of white lines entered my repertoire of minimal mark making. Since then my work has grappled with stretching and expanding what this form of marking might mean.

Pantone. Drawing on paint on wall.  45 x 265 cm. 2016. Installation view at Saint Roc’s Chapel, Valls (Tarragona, Spain). Photo by Alba Rodriguez

Pantone. 60% Grey Sky. Drawing on pain on wall (detail).  93 x 54 cm. 2016. Installation view at Saint Roc’s Chapel, Valls (Tarragona, Spain). Photo by Alba Rodriguez