Soundtrack de la Tierra

Scientists describe the earth by the size of its particles, its organic or inorganic matter, its moisture, and its acidity. Artists who shape the earth embrace the myth of origin—the one that explains the presence of the first man and the first woman in the world as the work of a god who gave them life through clay. Sculptors know how to maneuver the physical-chemical peculiarities of their materials to give life to the whims of their imagination, to renewed landscapes that enrich our relationship with the environment.

Sculptors like Paloma Torres and María José Lavín have chiseled the air, blocking its transparency with pieces that plant forests inhabited by heart-women. These sculptors intervene in the landscape to break its silence with provocative additions; whether in leather, paper clay, or gold leaf—as in the Venus by María José Lavín—or in ceramics, like the columns and walls that invite us to inhabit different types of cities built by Paloma Torres.

The earth not only offers its malleability and spongy qualities but also accepts the primal gifts of fire to establish its permanence. Thus, behind a quiet and still appearance, the sculptors delve into the movement and power of the earth, into the secrets of algae, into the vestiges of a previous life zealously guarded, squeezing it, subduing it, carving it and, recognizing the sustenance of an imperfect world, they make it scream, moan, sing. Two sculptors dialogue through their ways of seeing and capturing matter to reveal the sung dreams of the planet’s earthy substrate.

It is enough to read them with your eyes. The rest, the revelation, will happen.

by Mónica Lavín