S/T (Detail) Installation

Borrowed scenarios, Infinite universes 1. To draw a shape on a surface using the appropriate instrument: All the children drew portrait of their parents. 2. To describe something in detail with words: He drew us clear a picture to his neighborhood. 3. To reveal what was hidden, to let itself de seen, to manifest itself: You could see the irony drawn in his eyes. Source: wordreference.com (in spanish) When the spectator is faced with the work of a “contemporary” artist, generally he/she refuses from the start to establish a sensitive and receptive dialogue with it, and easily arrives to this phrase (commonly used in an artistic context): “I don´t get it”. This reaction has bothered me for many years. If we are talking about spectators and artists that come from a similar place, who are in the same time frame and moment, why or how is it that an artistic expression is not understood? In his essay “The Secret Knowledge”, David Hockney helped me to understand this. In it, he makes it clear once and for all, that art is more scientific than it is an ability. Renaissance art had more to do with lenses, mathematics and logic, than with divine talents. Perhaps one of the things that stop us from appreciating new artistic expressions is the strong tendency we have to valuing the craftsmanship when we are judging a work of art. This is ironic since art has always been linked to new technologies. If we can speak in those terms, oil painting was once a new technology, the result of a chemical experiment, which enabled artists to emulate the real world on their canvases, maintaining the portrait or scene wet, alive, and suspended until the artist had made a painting that was as faithful and accurate as his eye could see. Equally, drawing has always been a scientific expression needed for a realistic recording of the world. It was also used as the means to analise space and form and, aided by perspective – eminently a scientific tool – it has transformed the concept of image, making it more credible. If we take Borrowed scenarios, Infinite universes by the artist Johanna Arenas, as a point of reference, we can see how, through scientific observation, she captures a universe that could not be defined as such if it weren´t for her ability to draw. Each scenario is no more than a methodical, analytical and poetic drawing. Lines and patterns are the base of drawing; the artist´s achievement has not been to repeat what was already there, but to show what the spectator cannot see. Through generating and observing live cultures, she reveals a world that replicates a life cycle, creating images that speak of particles, the earth, the universe, time, transformation and death. Each scenario suggests precisely that: an infinite universe, a fragment of the universe - borrowed from the universe -, they are an exercise of patience (like drawing is), observing and recording day by day how matter dies, transforms and sublimates. What is invisible to the eye of the spectator, blinded by a saturation of information, is retraced and photographed systematically day after day until these drawings are achieved… but are these drawings? You may ask. Yes, they are indeed drawings! As these artworks comply with all its requirements. The scenarios are perfect lines that overlap time and time again, until they become patterns, which create impossible greys, inexistent volumes and gaseous atmospheres; only the artist didn´t use charcoal as her instrument to do this, she used time as a medium! Jorge Pachón Visual Artist, curator, visual arts teacher May 28 2014

Installation:silicone weave on Other

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:196.9 W x 78.7 H x 118.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.