The Indexed Series are visually related to the realm of Medicine, and the classifications of medical samples or chemical compounds arranged in rows of glass bottles, in shelves. The works are constructed by displaying a multiplicity of printed fragments inserted in glass bottles filled with water. These are arranged inside shelves and boxes, specifically designed for proper exhibition. These works are based on the study of the relationship between the concepts of fragment and totality. The original context of the selected images is “amputated” in order to leave the single parts as new “isolated wholes”, thus revealing unexpected visual and conceptual relationships between them through their serial disposition. Each of the resulting configurations constitute a congruent formal universe, which can be read both as a panoptic synthesis, as in the detail of each fragment (zoom out and zoom in).
Index of X, detail bottles.17 x 6 cm. each. 2012.
Artisticity Index is made up of a series of 100 hand prints, taken from different reproductions of works painted by famous artists in the history of Western painting. The selection criteria of the works is aimed to cover a historical period with a certain consistency and amplitude, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Each fragment has been inserted into a glass bottle filled with water, building an orderly sequence of samples, in the manner of an indexed catalog. The series of bottles is arranged on a four-level metal shelf, and is accompanied by a printed index in which the relative position of each fragment is indicated with the name and year of birth and death of the respective artist. The work seeks to put in value each fragment as a representative unit of a particular style and time, thus constituting a sum of specific “points of view”, formally linked by a strategy of amputation and serial scopic display that leaves them in a relationship of equivalence, independent of their specific original context.
Homunculus
Intervened pharmaceutical bottle inserted in metal box, with LED illumination. 30 x 11,5 x 10 cm. each. 2013
This work is inspired by the Homunculus, a name that was given in the ancient art of Alchemy to small mythical beings generated by pseudoscientific processes performed by alchemist. The will of “generating life” through such artificial procedure is analogous to the artistic operation carried out, since the dissection of the original work from which the fragment is taken is transmuted into a “rebirth”, a restitution of integrity in the new format, which infuses on it a renewed vital breath with light, reflections and transparency. This series of 20 bottles, is constituted by a set of human bodies taken from specific pictorial works in which the body presents a certain potential for individualization and autonomy with respect to its context. The bodies are inserted in pharmaceutical bottles, which replace the original pictorial context and transform it into a new “container body”, which has the virtue of singling out and constructing a sort of radiant aura for each fragment.
Sebastian Apology. Metal & glass cabinet, 27 intervened glass bottles, painter´s Index. 101 x 72 x 10 cm. 2012.
Sebastian Apology, bottles. 17 x 6 cm. each. 2012.
MondZeit
28 glass bottles intervened in metal cabinet, with LED illumination. 13 x 25 x 300 cm. 2014.
Mondzeit (Moon Time) is a work based on the study of the 28 phases of the Moon, conforming a calendar that includes the original name of each phase in Latin, and the corresponding day date for each month through a system of interchangeable magnetic numbers. It consists of 28 spherical glass bottles, forming a linear array disposed in a metal shelf illuminated by dimmable LED. The bottles are filled with water to enhance the optical effect of their spherical format. From a formal point of view, it is related to my previous research on series and images, and perception through optical devices for dynamic transformation. In this case, the sequence of phases allows appreciating the Moon essentially as a dual phenomenon that links light and darkness in a rhythm of cyclic transformations. In more essential terms, the work seeks to put in value immemorial archetypal concepts, with certain universal validity, related to the cycles of life, the seasons, the passage of time and the importance of nature as an essential foundation of our life.
Absolut Mute
11 bottles of Absolut Vodka, digital printing. Metal cabinet, 15 x 35 x 180 cm. Index with dactylology alfabet, 45 x 59 cm. 2011.
This work was created in response to an invitation from Absolut Vodka to participate in the creation of a work for "Absolut Illusion Edition Vodka."
For this work, I intervened 11 Absolut Vodka bottles, inside which I placed 11 black and white photographs of my hand in different positions. The hands placed inside the bottles communicate a system of signs, in a language for the deaf-mute, which can be translated with the help of a dactylologic alphabet included in the work. On the other hand, the intention of the work was to evoke the arrangement of amputated hands inside a laboratory. A serial collection of body fragments, which, thanks to the technique used, generate an illusion of reality.