Art Basel Miami Beach 2016

Sebastián Fierro paintings follow a dulling method of representation, seeking a dislocation with the “reality” we observe. The model is a space created from flat elements, which is then introduced again into another flat surface, the pictorial space. “When I work I am aware that painting is a grammar, a scheme of thought that proposes a flat and contained surface, a limited surface that presents a living experience, a sum of moments, all at once. I use the same grammar of painting as subject, as actors who reflect on their own limitations. That is where I place the metaphorical power of painting. A flat surface is the sum of many planes that simultaneously suggest and deny space, the objects within that space are contained and containers, both generators and receivers of light.” (Camila Corredor)

In Brutalism, Marlon de Azambuja strips architectural constructions to expose the materials and the processes of architectural thinking and building. All the elements are suspended by industrial instruments; the materials reveal their nature and characteristics in the most open and naked manner; their presence is their sole function. In this work, Marlon carries out the idea of brutalism and that of lifting a city with a simple and poetic gesture. De Azambuja has been brought up in a place of full-scale utopias; his thinking has been deeply influenced by Brazilian modernist architecture made even more visible because of the contrast existing at the foot of the buildings. This dichotomy has led him to consider the purest essence of all construction: the nobility of materials and geometry of forms.

Alberto Baraya’s broader Project, Herbario de Plantas Artificiales (Herbarium of Artifical Plants) deconstructs scientific paradigm, post-colonial societies, and at the same time reflects about daily esthetical acts. “Alberto Baraya from Colombia has been doing for several years a research on the colonial gaze of the Naturalist in the 19th century, and to counter that position he’s done an incredible ongoing project: an Herbarium of artificial plants (plastic, paper, rubber, etc.), with ‘specimens’ sent to him by many ‘naturalist’ (friends, otherartist, etc.) from all over the world. He painstakingly ‘dissects’, classifies and frames these flowers and plants, and the herbarium seen as a whole is overwhelming.” (José Roca)