Vermelho presents Mental Radio, the first solo show by Colombian artist Andrés Ramírez Gaviria at the gallery. The exhibition is curated by Maria Iovino.
In Mental Radio, Ramírez Gaviria presents works that reveal parts of the construction of the world around us that we take for granted, although they reveal hidden workings in plain sight as if they were revealed secrets.
Andrés Ramírez Gaviria’s work operates in the territory of abstract creation. His works review and submit to doubt, information and codes from different worlds that are part of the structures in which cultural dialogues transit. The artist questions the conventions he brings into focus in the face of the larger story and particular histories, as well as the revelations of art, science and technology.
The encounters it provides illuminate hidden or forgotten aspects of the selected information and, in this way, allow us to observe significant gaps in matters generally perceived as implied. To that extent, in this work, the image is never presented as definition or precision, but, on the contrary, as a set of indications, resonances and doors that open to occurrences of intricate multiplicity.
Vermelho presents Mental Radio, the first solo show by Colombian artist Andrés Ramírez Gaviria at the gallery. The exhibition is curated by Maria Iovino.
In Mental Radio, Ramírez Gaviria presents works that reveal parts of the construction of the world around us that we take for granted, although they reveal hidden workings in plain sight as if they were revealed secrets.
Andrés Ramírez Gaviria’s work operates in the territory of abstract creation. His works review and submit to doubt, information and codes from different worlds that are part of the structures in which cultural dialogues transit. The artist questions the conventions he brings into focus in the face of the larger story and particular histories, as well as the revelations of art, science and technology.
The encounters it provides illuminate hidden or forgotten aspects of the selected information and, in this way, allow us to observe significant gaps in matters generally perceived as implied. To that extent, in this work, the image is never presented as definition or precision, but, on the contrary, as a set of indications, resonances and doors that open to occurrences of intricate multiplicity.
In this video, two opposites coexist: an act of destruction, which could be seen as a manifestation contrary to the categorical reasons that are often used to justify control excesses (the strict and perfect forms); and a controlled process of absolutely emptying the form, which paradoxically is responsible for the event of destruction.
The aesthetic irruption of a perfect square, which surprises the viewer in this video, is the result of an operation created, calculated and controlled with precision.
Only when the form collapses is it suddenly understood that the record makes visible a transparent cube, and not a plane on which a reframing has been traced. This cube was hermetically closed and connected to a vacuum pump (off-camera) which for two minutes extracts with assistance the air contained inside the mold. At the moment of total vacuum, the object implodes and passes from immobility to abrupt mobility, which in decelerated rhythm is observed as an admirable catastrophe.
In this work Andrés Ramírez Gaviria experiments with time – the time that is perceived and the time that goes unnoticed – and, in the meantime, reduces the abstract geometric shapes from their minimal expression to their disappearance through rational practices that have emotional consequences.
4'33''
2K video. black and white – no sound
Photo Video stillIn this video, two opposites coexist: an act of destruction, which could be seen as a manifestation contrary to the categorical reasons that are often used to justify control excesses (the strict and perfect forms); and a controlled process of absolutely emptying the form, which paradoxically is responsible for the event of destruction.
The aesthetic irruption of a perfect square, which surprises the viewer in this video, is the result of an operation created, calculated and controlled with precision.
Only when the form collapses is it suddenly understood that the record makes visible a transparent cube, and not a plane on which a reframing has been traced. This cube was hermetically closed and connected to a vacuum pump (off-camera) which for two minutes extracts with assistance the air contained inside the mold. At the moment of total vacuum, the object implodes and passes from immobility to abrupt mobility, which in decelerated rhythm is observed as an admirable catastrophe.
In this work Andrés Ramírez Gaviria experiments with time – the time that is perceived and the time that goes unnoticed – and, in the meantime, reduces the abstract geometric shapes from their minimal expression to their disappearance through rational practices that have emotional consequences.
2,5 cm Ø each
12 spheres crafted from chondrite meteorites found in northeast Africa Photo Filipe Berndt [:pt]Nesta obra o artista coloca em diálogo as noções de tempo e espaço, jogo e criação, a partir de doze esferas fabricadas com materiais que viajaram através do espaço e que, por isso, com seus 4.550 milhões de anos de existência, testemunham as profundidades do tempo. Os meteoritos são os materiais mais antigos e primitivos que se conhecem no universo. Deste modo as peças fazem alusões diversas em que se enlaçam mistérios e mitologias da origem com práticas populares e com princípios de organização temporal. Observa o artista que doze é um número fundamental para o calendário e para a medição do tempo no ocidente. Um ano tem doze meses e as unidades básicas com as quais se mede a temporalidade são divisíveis por esse número: 60 segundos, 60 minutos ou 24 horas. Ao mesmo tempo, os padrões esféricos, que remetem às brincadeiras de rua com bolinhas de gude, recordam a beleza desses pequenos objetos que normalmente foram relacionados a corpos celestes devido tanto à sua esfericidade como ao movimento circular em que se encontram as cores entre as transparências do vidro com que são fabricados. A brincadeira de bolinhas de gude, em sua prática comum e atual, está desprovida de leituras míticas ou culturais. No entanto Ramírez Gaviria reflete contemplando a competição na qual as pequenas esferas se roçam e entrechocam, e recorda que em outros tempos estas brincadeiras estavam de fato dotadas de sentidos míticos e que durante milênios as culturas veneraram aos corpos celestes como se fossem deidades. Brincar com corpos celestes, portanto, é uma metáfora de brincar com Deus. Ainda que muitas crenças tenham ficado para trás com o decorrer dos séculos, as noções criacionistas, sejam estas evolutivas ou religiosas, seguem conservando espaços importantes.[:en]In this work, the artist puts into dialogue the notions of time and space, play and creation, starting with twelve spheres made of materials that have traveled through space and that therefore, with their 4,550 million years of existence, bear witness to the depths of time. Meteorites are the oldest and most primitive materials known in the universe. In this way the pieces make diverse allusions in which mysteries and mythologies of origin are intertwined with popular practices and with principles of temporal organization. The artist notes that twelve is a fundamental number for the calendar and the measurement of time in the West. A year has twelve months, and the basic units with which temporality is measured are divisible by this number: 60 seconds, 60 minutes, or 24 hours. At the same time, the spherical patterns, reminiscent of the street games with marbles, recall the beauty of these small objects that have usually been related to celestial bodies due to both their sphericity and the circular movement in which the colors are found between the transparencies of the glass with which they are made. The playing of marbles, in its common and current practice, is devoid of mythical or cultural readings. However, Ramírez Gaviria reflects contemplating the competition in which the small balls rub against each other and clash, and recalls that in other times these games were in fact endowed with mythical meanings and that for millennia cultures venerated the celestial bodies as if they were deities. Playing with celestial bodies, therefore, is a metaphor for playing with God. Although many beliefs have been left behind over the centuries, creationist notions, whether evolutionary or religious, still retain important spaces.[:]In this work, the artist puts into dialogue the notions of time and space, play and creation, starting with twelve spheres made of materials that have traveled through space and that therefore, with their 4,550 million years of existence, bear witness to the depths of time. Meteorites are the oldest and most primitive materials known in the universe. In this way the pieces make diverse allusions in which mysteries and mythologies of origin are intertwined with popular practices and with principles of temporal organization.
The artist notes that twelve is a fundamental number for the calendar and the measurement of time in the West. A year has twelve months, and the basic units with which temporality is measured are divisible by this number: 60 seconds, 60 minutes, or 24 hours.
At the same time, the spherical patterns, reminiscent of the street games with marbles, recall the beauty of these small objects that have usually been related to celestial bodies due to both their sphericity and the circular movement in which the colors are found between the transparencies of the glass with which they are made. The playing of marbles, in its common and current practice, is devoid of mythical or cultural readings.
However, Ramírez Gaviria reflects contemplating the competition in which the small balls rub against each other and clash, and recalls that in other times these games were in fact endowed with mythical meanings and that for millennia cultures venerated the celestial bodies as if they were deities. Playing with celestial bodies, therefore, is a metaphor for playing with God. Although many beliefs have been left behind over the centuries, creationist notions, whether evolutionary or religious, still retain important spaces.
2,5 cm Ø each
12 spheres crafted from chondrite meteorites found in northeast Africa
Photo Filipe BerndtIn this work, the artist puts into dialogue the notions of time and space, play and creation, starting with twelve spheres made of materials that have traveled through space and that therefore, with their 4,550 million years of existence, bear witness to the depths of time. Meteorites are the oldest and most primitive materials known in the universe. In this way the pieces make diverse allusions in which mysteries and mythologies of origin are intertwined with popular practices and with principles of temporal organization.
The artist notes that twelve is a fundamental number for the calendar and the measurement of time in the West. A year has twelve months, and the basic units with which temporality is measured are divisible by this number: 60 seconds, 60 minutes, or 24 hours.
At the same time, the spherical patterns, reminiscent of the street games with marbles, recall the beauty of these small objects that have usually been related to celestial bodies due to both their sphericity and the circular movement in which the colors are found between the transparencies of the glass with which they are made. The playing of marbles, in its common and current practice, is devoid of mythical or cultural readings.
However, Ramírez Gaviria reflects contemplating the competition in which the small balls rub against each other and clash, and recalls that in other times these games were in fact endowed with mythical meanings and that for millennia cultures venerated the celestial bodies as if they were deities. Playing with celestial bodies, therefore, is a metaphor for playing with God. Although many beliefs have been left behind over the centuries, creationist notions, whether evolutionary or religious, still retain important spaces.
32x24cm
Silver emulsion prints Photo Filipe Berndt [:pt]Neste trabalho o artista explora os limites do perceptível e também as probabilidades de visibilizar o invisível com o apoio de diversas formas de tradução. Isso com a finalidade de propor significados que sempre estão abertos à interpretação. Em Sources as imagens representam a captura possível de ser feita a partir da terra de ondas de rádio emitidas há milhões de anos por quasares no espaço cósmico remoto, o que se supõe ter ocorrido nos momentos nos quais o universo vivia a sua infância. A captura se efetuou através de telescópios de ondas que registram a informação que se desloca em somatórias de anos luz que chegam a ser inconcebíveis para a noção humana do tempo. Os indícios sonoros foram digitalizados e posteriormente convertidos em imagens bidimensionais com o apoio de Zsolt Paragi, Joint Institute for VLBI, e Sandor Frey, FOMI Satelite Geodetic Observatory. Assim, pretende-se não somente representar, de forma condensada e presente, o tempo inabarcável e remotíssimo, mas também se alcança uma forma de reter neste lugar ocorrências que não são terrenas. Para consegui-lo atravessam-se mundos formais diversos a fim de obter resultados que, além disso, nunca são definitivos ou fechados. As imagens são uma interpretação que sempre pode variar de acordo com a representação que se faça dos códigos matemáticos.[:en]In this work, the artist explores the limits of the perceptible and also the probabilities of making the invisible visible with the support of different forms of translation. This, in order to propose meanings that are always open to interpretation. In Sources, the images represent the capture, possible to be made from Earth, of radio waves emitted millions of years ago by quasars in the remote cosmic space, which supposedly occurred in the moments when the universe was in its infancy. The capture was carried out through wave telescopes that record the information moving in sums of light years that are inconceivable for the human notion of time. The sound cues were digitized and later converted into two-dimensional images with the support of Zsolt Paragi, Joint Institute for VLBI, and Sandor Frey, FOMI Satellite Geodetic Observatory. In this way, it is intended to represent, in a condensed and present manner, not only the incomprehensible and remote time, but also a mode of retaining in this place occurrences that are not earthly. To achieve this, different formal worlds are traversed in order to obtain results that, ultimately, are never definitive or closed. The images are an interpretation that can always vary according to the representation made from the mathematical codes.[:]32x24cm
Silver emulsion prints Photo Filipe Berndt [:pt]Neste trabalho o artista explora os limites do perceptível e também as probabilidades de visibilizar o invisível com o apoio de diversas formas de tradução. Isso com a finalidade de propor significados que sempre estão abertos à interpretação. Em Sources as imagens representam a captura possível de ser feita a partir da terra de ondas de rádio emitidas há milhões de anos por quasares no espaço cósmico remoto, o que se supõe ter ocorrido nos momentos nos quais o universo vivia a sua infância. A captura se efetuou através de telescópios de ondas que registram a informação que se desloca em somatórias de anos luz que chegam a ser inconcebíveis para a noção humana do tempo. Os indícios sonoros foram digitalizados e posteriormente convertidos em imagens bidimensionais com o apoio de Zsolt Paragi, Joint Institute for VLBI, e Sandor Frey, FOMI Satelite Geodetic Observatory. Assim, pretende-se não somente representar, de forma condensada e presente, o tempo inabarcável e remotíssimo, mas também se alcança uma forma de reter neste lugar ocorrências que não são terrenas. Para consegui-lo atravessam-se mundos formais diversos a fim de obter resultados que, além disso, nunca são definitivos ou fechados. As imagens são uma interpretação que sempre pode variar de acordo com a representação que se faça dos códigos matemáticos.[:en]In this work, the artist explores the limits of the perceptible and also the probabilities of making the invisible visible with the support of different forms of translation. This, in order to propose meanings that are always open to interpretation. In Sources, the images represent the capture, possible to be made from Earth, of radio waves emitted millions of years ago by quasars in the remote cosmic space, which supposedly occurred in the moments when the universe was in its infancy. The capture was carried out through wave telescopes that record the information moving in sums of light years that are inconceivable for the human notion of time. The sound cues were digitized and later converted into two-dimensional images with the support of Zsolt Paragi, Joint Institute for VLBI, and Sandor Frey, FOMI Satellite Geodetic Observatory. In this way, it is intended to represent, in a condensed and present manner, not only the incomprehensible and remote time, but also a mode of retaining in this place occurrences that are not earthly. To achieve this, different formal worlds are traversed in order to obtain results that, ultimately, are never definitive or closed. The images are an interpretation that can always vary according to the representation made from the mathematical codes.[:]190x100cm
Nano-grid on glass Photo Vermelho [:pt]Com esta obra, iniciada em 2010, Gaviria segue em sua reflexão sobre a imensa quantidade de informação imperceptível que nos envolve. O artista se refere também às inumeráveis limitações que dificultam a interpretação e a tradução dessa informação, assim como às crenças e atos de fé que seguimos para tentar dar sentido a essas complexidades. Beyond Black parece inocente: um painel negro brilhante que reflete a imagem do espectador. A partir desta perspectiva, Beyond Black poderia representar uma atração narcisista. No entanto, sem que o espectador saiba, a obra acolhe na verdade um nanoquadriculado que a visão comum não consegue ler. Os objetos não figurativos ou “abstratos” têm uma qualidade sedutora relacionada a seu caráter esquivo. Podem funcionar como espaços vazios sobre os quais tentamos projetar nossos próprios desejos e crenças, sem que por isso cheguemos a defini- los a partir dessa intenção. Isso acontece por exemplo com o Quadrado negro de Malevich e nas inumeráveis e diferentes leituras que esta obra suscitou. Beyond Black fala sobre esta mesma ideia e assim se propõe uma sedução a partir do intangível.[:en]With this work, begun in 2010, Gaviria carries on his reflection on the immense amount of imperceptible information that surrounds us. The artist also refers to the innumerable limitations that make it difficult to interpret and translate this information, as well as the beliefs and acts of faith that we follow in order to try to make sense of these complexities. Beyond Black looks innocent: a glossy black panel that reflects the viewer’s image. From this perspective, Beyond Black could represent a narcissistic attraction. However, unbeknownst to the viewer, the work actually hosts a nano-checkerboard that the ordinary vision cannot read. Nonfigurative or “abstract” objects have a seductive quality related to their elusiveness. They can function as empty spaces on which we try to project our own desires and beliefs, without actually defining them based on this intention. This happens, for example, with Malevich’s Black Square and in the innumerable and different readings that this work aroused. Beyond Black discusses this same idea and thus proposes a seduction from the intangible.[:]12” loop
4K video black & white no sound Photo Video frame [:pt]A menina dos desenhos animados Nefertiti pisca periodicamente com um sutil desafio. Extraída das páginas da tese de doutoramento de Ivan Sutherland de 1963 intitulada Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System, a imagem de Nefertiti é uma ilustração precoce da conveniência “artística” de copiar uma imagem ou partes dela, instantaneamente, várias vezes com a ajuda de um programa de computador. Sutherland incluiu a imagem na sua tese como uma ilustração da função de criar utilizando o comando “copiar e colar”. Menos de meio século depois, numa paisagem cultural que abraça o ato de copiar como uma banalidade quotidiana, Nefertiti parece tanto uma profecia perdida como uma figura de ilustração. A sua piscadela - uma simples sequência animada de imagens quase idênticas que se substituem sucessivamente - sugere muito mais do que mostra. O seu gesto despretensioso parece uma sutil inferência a uma forma de produção cultural improvável de ter sido imaginada em 1963 pela maioria, muito menos pelo Dr. Sutherland, que segundo as suas próprias palavras “... apenas queria fazer belas imagens”.[:en]The cartoon girl Nefertiti winks periodically in subtle defiance. Taken from the pages of Ivan Sutherland’s 1963 PhD thesis titled Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System, the image of Nefertiti is an early illustration of the “artistic” convenience of copying an image or parts of it, instantly, multiple times with the aid of a computer program. Ivan Sutherland included the image of Nefertiti in his PhD thesis as an illustration of the function of creating instances from an object or in more contemporary terms, using the cut, copy and paste command. Less than a half century later, in a cultural landscape that embraces the act of copying as an everyday banality, Nefertiti seems as much a lost prophecy as a figure of illustration. Her wink – a simple animated sequence of nearly identical images that successively replace each other – suggests far more than it shows. Her coquettish gesture seems a subtle inference to a form of cultural production unlikely to have been imagined in 1963 by most, much less by Dr. Sutherland, who according to his own words “...just wanted to make nice pictures.”[:]The cartoon girl Nefertiti winks periodically in subtle defiance. Taken from the pages of Ivan Sutherland’s 1963 PhD thesis titled Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System, the image of Nefertiti is an early illustration of the “artistic” convenience of copying an image or parts of it, instantly, multiple times with the aid of a computer program.
Ivan Sutherland included the image of Nefertiti in his PhD thesis as an illustration of the function of creating instances from an object or in more contemporary terms, using the cut, copy and paste command. Less than a half century later, in a cultural landscape that embraces the act of copying as an everyday banality, Nefertiti seems as much a lost prophecy as a figure of illustration.
Her wink – a simple animated sequence of nearly identical images that successively replace each other – suggests far more than it shows. Her coquettish gesture seems a subtle inference to a form of cultural production unlikely to have been imagined in 1963 by most, much less by Dr. Sutherland, who according to his own words “…just wanted to make nice pictures.”
12” loop
4K video black & white no sound
Photo Video stillThe cartoon girl Nefertiti winks periodically in subtle defiance. Taken from the pages of Ivan Sutherland’s 1963 PhD thesis titled Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System, the image of Nefertiti is an early illustration of the “artistic” convenience of copying an image or parts of it, instantly, multiple times with the aid of a computer program.
Ivan Sutherland included the image of Nefertiti in his PhD thesis as an illustration of the function of creating instances from an object or in more contemporary terms, using the cut, copy and paste command. Less than a half century later, in a cultural landscape that embraces the act of copying as an everyday banality, Nefertiti seems as much a lost prophecy as a figure of illustration.
Her wink – a simple animated sequence of nearly identical images that successively replace each other – suggests far more than it shows. Her coquettish gesture seems a subtle inference to a form of cultural production unlikely to have been imagined in 1963 by most, much less by Dr. Sutherland, who according to his own words “…just wanted to make nice pictures.”
In this work Andrés Ramírez Gaviria reflects on the possibilities and limitations of interpretation and representation, as well as on the conceptual conventions in the world we inhabit. The focus of his reflection in this case is the historical definition of the unit of weight called kilogram.
The images record some of the official copies (numbered) of the prototype of the reference object for this unit of weight, which were distributed among the institutions responsible for the control of weights and measures in different countries of the planet.
The model was made of iridium platinum, a high-density metal and therefore resistant to corrosion, which guarantees the permanence of the conventional weight as a reference.
Despite this, the observation made it possible to verify that after some time some variations were registered. Ramírez Gaviria’s approach points out once again in this work the changing support on which the illusion of the formal, the solid and the concrete is sustained.
27,5 x 21 cm
UV print on aluminum
Photo VermelhoIn this work Andrés Ramírez Gaviria reflects on the possibilities and limitations of interpretation and representation, as well as on the conceptual conventions in the world we inhabit. The focus of his reflection in this case is the historical definition of the unit of weight called kilogram.
The images record some of the official copies (numbered) of the prototype of the reference object for this unit of weight, which were distributed among the institutions responsible for the control of weights and measures in different countries of the planet.
The model was made of iridium platinum, a high-density metal and therefore resistant to corrosion, which guarantees the permanence of the conventional weight as a reference.
Despite this, the observation made it possible to verify that after some time some variations were registered. Ramírez Gaviria’s approach points out once again in this work the changing support on which the illusion of the formal, the solid and the concrete is sustained.
In this work Andrés Ramírez Gaviria reflects on the possibilities and limitations of interpretation and representation, as well as on the conceptual conventions in the world we inhabit. The focus of his reflection in this case is the historical definition of the unit of weight called kilogram.
The images record some of the official copies (numbered) of the prototype of the reference object for this unit of weight, which were distributed among the institutions responsible for the control of weights and measures in different countries of the planet.
The model was made of iridium platinum, a high-density metal and therefore resistant to corrosion, which guarantees the permanence of the conventional weight as a reference.
Despite this, the observation made it possible to verify that after some time some variations were registered. Ramírez Gaviria’s approach points out once again in this work the changing support on which the illusion of the formal, the solid and the concrete is sustained.
27,5 x 21cm
UV print on aluminum
Photo VermelhoIn this work Andrés Ramírez Gaviria reflects on the possibilities and limitations of interpretation and representation, as well as on the conceptual conventions in the world we inhabit. The focus of his reflection in this case is the historical definition of the unit of weight called kilogram.
The images record some of the official copies (numbered) of the prototype of the reference object for this unit of weight, which were distributed among the institutions responsible for the control of weights and measures in different countries of the planet.
The model was made of iridium platinum, a high-density metal and therefore resistant to corrosion, which guarantees the permanence of the conventional weight as a reference.
Despite this, the observation made it possible to verify that after some time some variations were registered. Ramírez Gaviria’s approach points out once again in this work the changing support on which the illusion of the formal, the solid and the concrete is sustained.
With this work, the artist explores the notion of artistic failure through the historical figure of Samuel Morse, the renowned inventor who began his successful career in telegraphy while seeing the vanishing of his dream of becoming an artist of the stature of the great European painters he most admired.
The photography in this work focuses on the first prototype built by Morse for his telegraphic project in 1837. In this first initial experiment, Morse installed the telegraphic apparatus in a pictorial frame, with which – probably unintentionally – he gave history an image in which one can visualize a cross between the world of the arts and that of the sciences.
The works that accompany the photography are transcriptions in Morse code of some of the letters that Morse wrote expressing his sadness and frustration when he understood that he would not become the great artist he had set out to become and that, therefore, he would not see realized the dreams for which he prepared himself at art academies in the United States and in Europe.
In addition to the inventor’s feelings, Andrés Ramírez Gaviria recognizes Morse’s communicative creation as a powerful work of abstract art that goes far beyond the first goals that the author had set for himself in painting.
89 x 81cm
Oil on linen
Photo Filipe BerndtWith this work, the artist explores the notion of artistic failure through the historical figure of Samuel Morse, the renowned inventor who began his successful career in telegraphy while seeing the vanishing of his dream of becoming an artist of the stature of the great European painters he most admired.
The photography in this work focuses on the first prototype built by Morse for his telegraphic project in 1837. In this first initial experiment, Morse installed the telegraphic apparatus in a pictorial frame, with which – probably unintentionally – he gave history an image in which one can visualize a cross between the world of the arts and that of the sciences.
The works that accompany the photography are transcriptions in Morse code of some of the letters that Morse wrote expressing his sadness and frustration when he understood that he would not become the great artist he had set out to become and that, therefore, he would not see realized the dreams for which he prepared himself at art academies in the United States and in Europe.
In addition to the inventor’s feelings, Andrés Ramírez Gaviria recognizes Morse’s communicative creation as a powerful work of abstract art that goes far beyond the first goals that the author had set for himself in painting.
With this work, the artist explores the notion of artistic failure through the historical figure of Samuel Morse, the renowned inventor who began his successful career in telegraphy while seeing the vanishing of his dream of becoming an artist of the stature of the great European painters he most admired.
The photography in this work focuses on the first prototype built by Morse for his telegraphic project in 1837. In this first initial experiment, Morse installed the telegraphic apparatus in a pictorial frame, with which – probably unintentionally – he gave history an image in which one can visualize a cross between the world of the arts and that of the sciences.
The works that accompany the photography are transcriptions in Morse code of some of the letters that Morse wrote expressing his sadness and frustration when he understood that he would not become the great artist he had set out to become and that, therefore, he would not see realized the dreams for which he prepared himself at art academies in the United States and in Europe.
In addition to the inventor’s feelings, Andrés Ramírez Gaviria recognizes Morse’s communicative creation as a powerful work of abstract art that goes far beyond the first goals that the author had set for himself in painting.
89 x 81cm
Oil on linen
Photo Filipe BerndtWith this work, the artist explores the notion of artistic failure through the historical figure of Samuel Morse, the renowned inventor who began his successful career in telegraphy while seeing the vanishing of his dream of becoming an artist of the stature of the great European painters he most admired.
The photography in this work focuses on the first prototype built by Morse for his telegraphic project in 1837. In this first initial experiment, Morse installed the telegraphic apparatus in a pictorial frame, with which – probably unintentionally – he gave history an image in which one can visualize a cross between the world of the arts and that of the sciences.
The works that accompany the photography are transcriptions in Morse code of some of the letters that Morse wrote expressing his sadness and frustration when he understood that he would not become the great artist he had set out to become and that, therefore, he would not see realized the dreams for which he prepared himself at art academies in the United States and in Europe.
In addition to the inventor’s feelings, Andrés Ramírez Gaviria recognizes Morse’s communicative creation as a powerful work of abstract art that goes far beyond the first goals that the author had set for himself in painting.
Going deeper into the territory of understanding the abstract, this work is structured from an exercise in telepathic communication between Andrés Ramírez Gaviria and his wife, Jeanna Nikolov, that provided a series of drawings. These were inspired by the demonstrations that the American writer Upton Sinclair had made of the telepathic ability of his wife Mary Craig Sinclair, which he observed and analyzed during several years of his life.
In order to provide material evidence of his second wife’s telepathic abilities, Upton Sinclair carried out several experiments with her. Among other dynamics of encounters without words and without physical presence, the writer proposed to his wife that she would draw 290 shapes that he would select and which she could only access through her telepathic powers. The results revealed by this and other procedures on which the couple worked for three years in a row were published by Upton Sinclair in a book he authored and entitled Mental Radio. A copy of the first edition of this book is displayed along with the drawings by Ramírez Gaviria and his wife.
110 x 75cm
Blue India Ink on Canson Montval Paper
Photo Filipe BerndtGoing deeper into the territory of understanding the abstract, this work is structured from an exercise in telepathic communication between Andrés Ramírez Gaviria and his wife, Jeanna Nikolov, that provided a series of drawings. These were inspired by the demonstrations that the American writer Upton Sinclair had made of the telepathic ability of his wife Mary Craig Sinclair, which he observed and analyzed during several years of his life.
In order to provide material evidence of his second wife’s telepathic abilities, Upton Sinclair carried out several experiments with her. Among other dynamics of encounters without words and without physical presence, the writer proposed to his wife that she would draw 290 shapes that he would select and which she could only access through her telepathic powers. The results revealed by this and other procedures on which the couple worked for three years in a row were published by Upton Sinclair in a book he authored and entitled Mental Radio. A copy of the first edition of this book is displayed along with the drawings by Ramírez Gaviria and his wife.
Going deeper into the territory of understanding the abstract, this work is structured from an exercise in telepathic communication between Andrés Ramírez Gaviria and his wife, Jeanna Nikolov, that provided a series of drawings. These were inspired by the demonstrations that the American writer Upton Sinclair had made of the telepathic ability of his wife Mary Craig Sinclair, which he observed and analyzed during several years of his life.
In order to provide material evidence of his second wife’s telepathic abilities, Upton Sinclair carried out several experiments with her. Among other dynamics of encounters without words and without physical presence, the writer proposed to his wife that she would draw 290 shapes that he would select and which she could only access through her telepathic powers. The results revealed by this and other procedures on which the couple worked for three years in a row were published by Upton Sinclair in a book he authored and entitled Mental Radio. A copy of the first edition of this book is displayed along with the drawings by Ramírez Gaviria and his wife.
110 x 75cm
Blue India Ink on Canson Montval Paper
Photo Filipe BerndtGoing deeper into the territory of understanding the abstract, this work is structured from an exercise in telepathic communication between Andrés Ramírez Gaviria and his wife, Jeanna Nikolov, that provided a series of drawings. These were inspired by the demonstrations that the American writer Upton Sinclair had made of the telepathic ability of his wife Mary Craig Sinclair, which he observed and analyzed during several years of his life.
In order to provide material evidence of his second wife’s telepathic abilities, Upton Sinclair carried out several experiments with her. Among other dynamics of encounters without words and without physical presence, the writer proposed to his wife that she would draw 290 shapes that he would select and which she could only access through her telepathic powers. The results revealed by this and other procedures on which the couple worked for three years in a row were published by Upton Sinclair in a book he authored and entitled Mental Radio. A copy of the first edition of this book is displayed along with the drawings by Ramírez Gaviria and his wife.
Going deeper into the territory of understanding the abstract, this work is structured from an exercise in telepathic communication between Andrés Ramírez Gaviria and his wife, Jeanna Nikolov, that provided a series of drawings. These were inspired by the demonstrations that the American writer Upton Sinclair had made of the telepathic ability of his wife Mary Craig Sinclair, which he observed and analyzed during several years of his life.
In order to provide material evidence of his second wife’s telepathic abilities, Upton Sinclair carried out several experiments with her. Among other dynamics of encounters without words and without physical presence, the writer proposed to his wife that she would draw 290 shapes that he would select and which she could only access through her telepathic powers. The results revealed by this and other procedures on which the couple worked for three years in a row were published by Upton Sinclair in a book he authored and entitled Mental Radio. A copy of the first edition of this book is displayed along with the drawings by Ramírez Gaviria and his wife.
110x75cm
Blue India Ink on Canson Montval Paper
Photo Filipe BerndtGoing deeper into the territory of understanding the abstract, this work is structured from an exercise in telepathic communication between Andrés Ramírez Gaviria and his wife, Jeanna Nikolov, that provided a series of drawings. These were inspired by the demonstrations that the American writer Upton Sinclair had made of the telepathic ability of his wife Mary Craig Sinclair, which he observed and analyzed during several years of his life.
In order to provide material evidence of his second wife’s telepathic abilities, Upton Sinclair carried out several experiments with her. Among other dynamics of encounters without words and without physical presence, the writer proposed to his wife that she would draw 290 shapes that he would select and which she could only access through her telepathic powers. The results revealed by this and other procedures on which the couple worked for three years in a row were published by Upton Sinclair in a book he authored and entitled Mental Radio. A copy of the first edition of this book is displayed along with the drawings by Ramírez Gaviria and his wife.
This work places the viewer in front of the mathematical formula for the creative process proposed by the Russian writer Nikolai Punin. He developed it in Petrograd in the summer of 1919, when he imparted a series of lectures entitled “Pervyi tsikl lektsii” (“First cycle of lectures”).
The intention implicit in this formula is to apply to art the same methodical thinking as the one found in science. S (Pi + Pii + Piii +…Pπ) Y = T. In the formula, S is the sum of the principles (P), Y is intuition and T is an artistic creation. In the artist’s words: the methodologies of science applied to the field of art can be humorous and suggestive at the same time. The formula developed by Punin supposes an unlikely symbiosis between reason and imagination, creativity and practicality. Stories end in new beginnings and consequently their boundaries are blurred and intangible. Information, including that which is condensed into a mathematical formula, is recreated according to each new interpretation.
Variable Dimensions
Mural paiting
Photo Filipe BerndtThis work places the viewer in front of the mathematical formula for the creative process proposed by the Russian writer Nikolai Punin. He developed it in Petrograd in the summer of 1919, when he imparted a series of lectures entitled “Pervyi tsikl lektsii” (“First cycle of lectures”).
The intention implicit in this formula is to apply to art the same methodical thinking as the one found in science. S (Pi + Pii + Piii +…Pπ) Y = T. In the formula, S is the sum of the principles (P), Y is intuition and T is an artistic creation. In the artist’s words: the methodologies of science applied to the field of art can be humorous and suggestive at the same time. The formula developed by Punin supposes an unlikely symbiosis between reason and imagination, creativity and practicality. Stories end in new beginnings and consequently their boundaries are blurred and intangible. Information, including that which is condensed into a mathematical formula, is recreated according to each new interpretation.