“A Place without a Place”

In our residence space, Proyecto T, on the top floor of the gallery, the paintings of the two Spanish artists Álvaro Borobio and Federico Miró are presented. The exhibition “A Place without a Place” display the works created during the two months of residency in the gallery and is inspired, in part, by Mexico. One of the objectives of the artistic residency is to investigate how the city, the space, or the gallery influences the creation of artists. On this occasion, paintings such as “Coyoacán” by Borobio, or “Untitled” by Miró are presented, where pre-Hispanic symbols are appreciated, which clearly reflect their stay in Mexico.

The works of the two artists clash due to their aesthetic distinction, while Borobio’s paintings are spontaneous and vibrant, Miró’s work is meticulous and planned. However, both inquire about the speed of contemporary society, our habits, and how some structures brake down. Borobio exhibits the speed and social saturation in his work and reflects on cities and urbanism, and at the same time, Miró forces us to stop and get out of the hubbub to contemplate natural landscapes in a technique that refers us to textiles and the time taken by the creation of one of his pieces.

In Borobio’s work, we can see pieces with a lot of texture, wear, assemblies, and bright colors, like in CDMX, Xochimilco, Mezcal, or the Mexico City Series, where he introduces us to his interpretation of this megalopolis. His work reflects his beginnings in architecture with lines that refer us to endless plans of cities that do not exist. Through the mixed technique with the use of acrylic, aerosol, and pen, among others, Borobio expresses concern regarding the relationship between the metropolitan society, the natural environment, and the encounter between both.

Miró elaborates on landscapes and their abstraction. His particular technique alludes to the craft and the tradition of embroidery, tapestries, and looms. During his stay in Mexico, he inquires about these practices within the country’s culture. The two large-format pieces “Untitled” (180 x 150 cm) bring together his research on Mexican pre-Hispanic symbols, as well as the characteristic flora of Mexico. Both pieces have a frame that brings together symbols that the artist has found in various books on textiles and that Miró gathers to frame the images of the landscapes in the work where maguey, cacti, and jacaranda trees appear. A place without a place derives from these places that exist by themselves, imaginary, but at the same time are anchored to our context, thus, the work of Borobio and Miró introduce us to their own lands created within the gallery.

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