19-05-2020
WORKING HANDS
The handprint of man.
The gloves-hands are the symbolic object that synthesizes: the alchemic laboratory, fashion and design, hand labour mining and the pandemic. Gloves that work, transform, heal, protect, invade, destroy and create.
The question became: What does man leave behind?
The installation was presented in two different ways.
1.In situ , at an abandoned mine in a natural setting where nature has reclaimed the place.
2. Art gallery.
I began this project researching the mining city of Genk - Belgium from a societal, historical, geographical, philosophical, poetic and cultural perspective. From the outset, this project relied heavily on field research. Using my senses I began to experience the city and naturally I found my own fascinations ranging from Genk's coal mining history to alchemy. Then the outbreak of the coronavirus pushed me to rethink my approach to this project from Argentina. I asked myself: (How) Can imagination, memories and conversations become tools to come to know a city without being there physically?
(How) Can the covid pandemic translated into an artistic layer contribute to my project? (How) can I present my thoughts and ideas in a society which resides in the void between physical and virtual realities?
INTO THE MINES I
Recognizing the field
FIRST MATTER II
Prima materia
Here the project begins, into the white tunnel and out of the black tunnel, descending into the shafts. The zone is dark, hot and humid and one loses the bearings. There is a feeling of dizziness, echo and a constant wind. There is no more up or down, there is no more day or night, here underneath of the earth there is dark beat. The two metal towers are overpowering.
I descend into my simplest state of mind and scan this new territory, I write words,
I take in sounds, I document in the form of pictures and replicate them into drawings.
I choose stone, texture and image as my prima materia. This atmosphere evokes
the ancient alchemic tradition and illustrations.
From here on the alchemic principles guide my research.
“Often, when I was alone, I sat down on this stone, and then began an imaginary game that went something like this: "I am sitting on top of this stone and it is underneath […] The question then arose: "Am I the one who is sitting on the stone, or am I the stone on which he
is sitting? ”
- C.G. Jung
I concentrate on the stone and the dialogue with the matter begins.
The alchemic lab-oratory ( theatrum chemicum ) begins.
I prepare myself , I wash the stone and present to myself the raw material.
I fuse canvas and stones to create a synthesis between miner and rock.
When I put the stone in a glass container, the link between mining and
alchemy is reinforced. [Hermetic glass]
SKETCH BOOK FRAGMENTS III
Solve et coagula
Genk`s fragmented identity inspires the methodology of work, supported by the alchemic maxim and essential formula which states that something must be destroyed and dissolved (solve) to allow for a new form to appear (coagula).
At first Genk seem barren and somewhat hostile, but then I felt connected to Genks industrial and artistic contrast, as well as to it’s mining elements such as: mining maps, up & down, enclosed setting, the use
of towers, sounds, cooler palette & layers as well as tools, uniforms and gear. I felt very inspired by the tension of the four elements (stone, water, fire and air) found in mining.
STATES OF STONE IV
Hermetic glass & Isolation
The time of the quarantine coincides with the time of separating and isolating the matter into vases and containers. I select different colors and types of stone to convey the idea of different states of the matter. The research on hermetic principles intensifies.
I believe the isolation is affecting my working in the sense that I am alone , encapsulated, concentrate, with few resources, there is an outer hostility and closer to the mining world,all of this will lead to a simpler, deeper and darker outcome.
Canvas 70 x 90 cm
TRANSFORMING COAL INTO GOLD V
The First Layer Cracks
“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.”
- Leo Tolsoty
And then the stone moved. It wants to be discovered, the stone can’t hold the pressure. The temperature rises and the rock cracks. It is golden. It overflows.It begins to cool and takes shape then it petrifies.
What shape does it have? What will it be? What can it do? and what now?. It cracked open. It must be carefully brushed and kept a secret. These findings must be kept safe. These findings are documented and recorded, first as a quick sketch to remember and then on canvas.
A new stage of the research begins.
.
THE MAP VI
Gathering & Orientation processes
The city of Genk, Belgium gave me a feeling of disorientation with a fragmented identity. The map became the way to unite what had been separate as well as the means to gather art, the city and mining. The map oriented and fixated the style and character of my artistic exploration. The work required a prayer like attitude because of the repetition, concentration and the physical posture of bending on my knees.
The map serves the alchemic purpose of tracing and conciliating opposites,CONIUCTION.
BEHIND THE SCENE
How did I do it ?