Reflektion

Reflektion is the name of the art exhibition I did in Norrköping, Sweden, at the end of my erasmus. It sumarizes the Identity project.

"The Mirror", "Signature", "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", "Self-Identity" and "What is not seen" made it to the exhibition.

"Everything went perfect, after a lot of work, the inauguration was a success, the press came and it showed in the newspaper and internet here:

http://www.folkbladet.se/kultur/default.aspx?articleid=6067829
http://www.kultursidan.nu/?p=6719
http://www.student.liu.se/nyhetsarkiv/1.347585?l=sv

And what can be said...This exhibition is not only a great opportunity, it's the closure of an amazing year here in Sweden, I've experienced and seen a lot of things, both good and bad, I've truly evolved myself, and to resume everything in this exhibition is more than wonderful...

So, tack så mycket!"

"What is not seen" is a small video-art that I made with all the extra footage that I took for a documentary course. When I was shooting the interviews, I'd usually leave the camera switched on, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by mistake, but they weren't aware of it, so what was captured is how they really are and behave when they don't have to act...it's usually what we never get to see when we watch a movie or a video.

Step Strong

Step Strong
xylography on birch wood
70 x 30 cm.
Apr. 2012

This is the fourth piece of a project which I developed during the year I stayed in Sweden as an erasmus. The project theme was identity: what makes a person different? what makes each person special? what is an identity made of? why do we have the need to be so unique, yet so integrated in a group? what do we use to define our identity? this are some of the questions that define the proyect.

I think it's quite interesting how each animal has it's own footprint, and by that you may be able to recognize what kind of animal it is. But what about humans? to begin with, we wear shoes, which makes us have lots of footprints and at the same time, they are all made of, because they are industrially produced. But the human signature on the world doesn't end up there, we've changed the world, built cities, destroyed forests. I think that is also the human signature on the world: how we have changed the world, building, destroying, polluting, croping, extracting...Nowadays there are really few places where you can go and find no human traces...This is the proof of the human identity, because we all are part of it, we step strong on the world, and leave our mark, deeper than any other animal.

The woodcut itself follows a lot the style of the ones of the Waste Project, it's a way of working that I really liked,the footprint was traced from one of my shoes.

Signature

Signature

woodcut on elm wood.
20 x 20cm
Mar. 2012

This is the third piece of a project which I developed during the year I stayed in Sweden as an erasmus. The project theme was identity: what makes a person different? what makes each person special? what is an identity made of? why do we have the need to be so unique, yet so integrated in a group? what do we use to define our identity? this are some of the questions that define the proyect.

The idea of working about identity came when I was working on a woodcut project that dealt with life and death...What lasts? Then, I thought about how humans have been signing up since they were humans, from the cave paintings, to craftsmen, artists...even grafittis are signatures.

Signatures have a huge importance, they represent ourselves, they are used to make decisions, to mark, and they last through time, they are used to last. A good example of the great importance of signatures is the anecdote about how Picasso stained someone's trousers (a french ambassador if I recall correctly), and how, instead of being upset, he asked Picasso to sign up the trousers, it was paint in some trousers, but a signature gave them further importance and meaning...I think this also has great importance for the art world, as a piece it's not only important by itself, but who made it.

But signatures usually are written, or nowadays they are just numbers...they can be copied, and they are arbitrary, I don't understand a chinesse signature, and probably my signature won't mean anything to a chinesse. But as humans, we have some characteristics that are common to all of us, but at the same time are unique...One of this characteristics is the finger print: all of us have one, but each person's is slightly different from everybody else, this is even used by the police to track down people.

I thought it's quite funny that one of this unique characteristics is in fact a print, we stamp our finger to get a finger print, So I thought about making a woodcut of my own finger print, and making a stamp, a piece, which is actually my biological signature...And also, making a piece of my signature, is making a piece about myself, about me as an artist, and the importance that may have that I made a piece like this...It also conects with the asiatic style of signing, as far as I know, they have a stamp so their signature is always exactly the same.

The waste

This project contains a series of etches and a book I developed through an entire year. It deals with the waste of time and life itself. Back then, I was quite concerned about the importance of life and how it's permanently wasted. But, this project is also guided by different Metallica songs because I was really influenced by them, each theme is in part inspired by a song, and the texts are lyrics from them

The project lasted the whole course, starting from october 2010 until June 2011...The project itself was quite controlled (overcontrolled in my opinion) by my former teacher, who insisted on modifying the sketches, and not always with good results. We weren't allowed to start working until the teacher approved the sketch.

The themes deal respectively with the excess, the war, the destruction of the enviroment, the hatred and racism, the fanatism, the manipulation, and the money. They are based on "The memory remains", "Disposable Heroes", "Blackened", "Don't tread on me", "The God that failed", "Master of Puppets" and "King Nothing". The pictures below are from excess, war, destruction, and hatred, which are the best ones from this series and the less modified by my teacher.

I also had to make an art book, based on "Frantic", and is the conclusion to the project, and to my concerns about life, as I decided that your time is not wasted as long as you are the one who decides how to use it enjoying it, giving value to all the activities we usually do, and lots of people think of as "waste of time".

Palm tree

Palmera

xylography on elm wood
56 x 38 cm
Jan. 2010

Engraving and stamping is my second speciality, I tried it for the first time at school, and I took a course on my third year of Fine Arts. I'm not skilled at drawing, painting or photography, so engraving is the best way I have to work on 2D projects without having a computer involved.

There are several engraving techniques, and the one I'm most skilled at is wood carving, xylography, as it is similar to wood sculpting; it also fits my taste, as the images I usually produce are highly contrasted and use uniform tones instead of fadings or lines.

This etching is based on a Mexican palm tree and the sunlight, and the feeling I had under it. The woodcut is made on an elm trunk section; this technique allows a great detail but is way harder, it makes the wood rings visible in the stamps, which are hand made with a spoon.

This engraving was chosen to take part in a collective etching exhibition called "La Primera Oportunidad" (The First Chance) which took place in Madrid in the spring of 2010