VIEW WITH A SHIFT
Winter 2025
How do the drawings & paintings in the "Fleeting induction" series relate to ruined buildings? From a formal point of view, very little. From the point of view of the impact of the experience, a lot. The main reason is because the energy that causes decay is the same that fuels the evolution of everything around us, plants and animals, the earth, water and air, everything is impregnated with this energy and everything is in transformation, "Fleeting induction" has to do with this energy and with this change.
 |
| Fleeting induction #6 Mixed media on paper SKU 979 |
Ruined buildings hold a great fascination for me. I'm not referring to buildings in cities with some problems of decay due to lack of maintenance, I'm referring to those buildings lost in the woods or in remote places, far from everything, witnesses that someone took the trouble to build those walls in an unlikely place, against all odds, perhaps because they thought it was a good place to live. Over time, situations can change radically, either because unforeseen events occur or because the person responsible for taking care of the place dies, so it happens that these abandoned buildings in the middle of nowhere, deteriorate quickly because everything around them is hostile.
There is a
patina and a slow decay imprinted on these old surfaces that are like old
paintings with motifs that have faded long time ago, what remains is the record
of time, the movement of two things that evolve in opposite directions, the
building that is crumbling and the trees that are growing stronger, crushing
with their embrace what was left of the old construction. During the time I
stayed there, hoping that the light would help me with my photos, I felt that
the situation was familiar to me. There , the natural elements were in motion,
the plants, the water in the rivers, even the earth and rocks, were very slowly
transforming into something different, which eventually, a long time from now,
would no longer have the same shape nor be in the same place. It was revealing
to me to feel this energy at work, the force that makes nature resilient and
effective.
The time in
which this energy works is immeasurable, it extends for an eternity and this is
something that a civilization cannot deal with, something that is beyond our
means. When observing a ruin in a forest, which is an insignificant detail of
the landscape, I thought I saw a symbol of something much greater, gigantic,
the unity of everything that surrounds us and this leads to a necessary
modesty, a quality necessary for survival in a nature that does not exist to do
us any favors. We have underestimated the strength of this nature. If we think
that we can significantly change the course of things, we are very wrong, we
are powerless to change what will happen in the long term, eventually we will
be the victims of antagonizing the natural balances. My “in loco” reflection
explored the old relationship of balance between man and nature. The
transformation of the landscape over time has put this relationship into
perspective. Perhaps, to a certain extent, the works in “Fleeting Induction”
emerge as an echo of nature’s subtle message communicating with us and saying –
Be careful what you do – a message that is clearly evident in nature’s ability
to regenerate itself, to be unstoppable in the direction it follows, in the
strength of the master plan and the long term it has to execute it.
These days nothing is normal but over the weekend, away from the chaos, I was able to leave behind the madness that the news is bringing. A little normality is needed. Some ideas written down on paper, simple black and white drawings that I think have a lot to do with the walk in the mountains this morning.
