UMBILICAL series is the hanging sculpture of Japanese paper with pigment, ink or varnish, deferentes longest and sizes.
When we need to fill ourselves with vital energy, going to the encounter with nature becomes something necessary and we can feel within ourselves a leveling process, in the field of the subtle, where the full occupies and compensates for the vacuum. It is a process of flow that runs through “channels invisible” to the human eye. Through paper I intend to make these processes visible.
The work that I present is titled THE FOLD OF TIME 03, and belongs to the UMBILICAL series. I have chosen the name of this series because the shapes run like a wavy cord that hangs from the ceiling which is presented with a spiral braided shape that runs vertically and that somehow reminds of the cord that joins the mother with the fetus. I propose the idea of umbilical as a metaphor for the channel union between two elements that can be presented as opposite to each other: as above and below, air and ground, empty and full… etc. The title THE FOLD OF TIME I chose in reference to the wrinkles of the paper and which as I work the paper are shaped randomly and at the same time coherently, and that for me I find a fractal order in all this that evokes me to an idea of infinity, which is ultimately in its philosophical approach what contains all the forms of creation.
It is a hanging sculpture made of paper, with an elongated general shape. The sculpture is made up of two parts: its upper part is narrower and elongated and runs downward in a dynamic way creating undulations and turns; and the lower part of the sculpture opens into an infinity of descending broken points organized like a cluster. The tipe of paper I used is “Manila hemp pulp fiber Japanese paper” covered with thin layers of transparent varnish.
The paper is worked with the hands with the technique of wrinkling and twisting in which it requires a lot of pressure and physical tension. The work process is inspired by the traditional origami technique in its variant based on the wrinkles of the paper, but led to a more sculptural work looking for the corporeity of the paper.
This way of working with Japanese paper arises as a personal need to go to a more physical encounter with said material. The work process is required me an extra physical effort where my whole body takes part in the process to transformation the paper go from being a smooth surface without variations to a twisted volume composed of an infinite number of folds and wrinkles, subtle cracks and translucent holes. During this work process the paper is pressed, rubbed and turned repeatedly and subsequently impregnated with numerous layers of varnish.
The artwork aims to establish relationships between types of elements: with gravity, with light and with space. Its relationship with gravity does so on a definitely physical level where the weight of the paper itself intervenes in the forms and in the arrangement of the work in its composition as a whole. With the light, a curious and subtle dialogue is established between soft matte lights and translucent shadows. Between the interstices and the gaps created by the paper, golden and nuanced clarities reverberate. It is related to space through the presence of form within the void of space, generating a communication where the rhythms and undulations of the hanging sculpture are imposed in a serene way with the apparent uniformity of the space that welcomes it, generating an “atmosphere of unity”.
