NUMERO



Micrographs
Pigmented ink on cotton rag paper
104x104 cm
Unique prints

ARTBASEL, MIAMI 2014
GALERÍA PÁRAMO, GUADALAJARA 2015
GWANGJU BIENNIALE, GWANGJU 2016
CASCO ART INSTITUTE, UTRECHT 2017
TENSTA KONSTHALL, STOCKHOLM 2018
ASU DESIGN & THE ARTS LIBRARY, ARIZONA 2018-24
CCK, BUENOS AIRES 2020




The most direct way to draw equivalences between a work of art and a meteorite occurs in the field of material economy: scarcity constitutes a crucial factor in determining the price of a specific good, and the unique nature of the artistic piece has historically been used as a parameter to establish its value, at least until "the era of technical reproducibility" emerged. Of celestial origin -as heaven was the place where, for centuries, the root of the most transcendent visions was located-, meteorites are also scarce and could not be stripped of their aura. Just as with works of art, the course of the 20th century had a negative impact on the symbolic valuation of the very few space rocks found on our planet: when humans managed to place their bodies on the Moon, meteorites lost their main attribute, the one that made them the only objects capable of testifying to the existence of a material reality beyond Earth.

numero is an ongoing series that navigates the contradictory logics of multiples contained in that which is unique, and the vast included within the minuscule. A succession of micrographic close-ups from meteorite samples allows us to delve into endless lines and variations that make up a singular body. In each of the images, the lens reveals a particular set of mysterious silicates and other polychromatic sparks, molecular ingredients of the earliest stages of the Solar System.

The decision to present the images evoking the circular shape of the microscopic lens emphasizes their scientific nature, as the series is both prolongation and homage to the tradition of "wondrous" microphotography that has existed since the 19th century. 
Technological advances produce aesthetics as a digression of the language of tools, which is often considered hermetic in its utilitarianism but seems to be the only language capable of revealing the morphemic beauty that organizes things from within. Thus, this work shares the exploratory enthusiasm of scientists who first ventured into the tiny landscapes -incomputable gardens of cells and atoms- that structure the world.

As a series composed of the differences that arise from the same foundation, numero dismantles the notion of the uniqueness of the body while poetically observing the economic concept of scarcity. Through the multiplying effects of repetition, it asks if it is possible to rewrite the universal sense to explore the singularity of a potential inner life, which is infinitesimal and sparkles beneath the gray uniformity of the general.

So, in addition to formulating the rational question of whether it is possible to extract an unlimited resource from what is deemed unique, the sensitive issue around this artwork has to do with the experimental application of various superimposed techniques, in order to ascertain if reality itself is the reflection of an even greater mystery.