Portals | Mareo Rodríguez
Artist Mareo Rodríguez recently exhibited Portals at A. M. Bijiere gallery in Tribeca, New York City. Through a series of paintings, sculptures and installations, his works explore the power of topography and material, but the earthly qualities of his pieces are as present as the ethereal and spiritual ones.
We recently attended the opening of Portals, a new exhibition by Barcelona based artist Mareo Rodríguez. Raised in Colombia, Rodríguez’s works take us to a world of fragmentation, attraction, condensed energy and light. The works show an admiration for the tangible and physical qualities of our world, but at the same time they have an inherent immaterial and deeply emotional character.
Portals Series | Enamel & gold leaf on canvas | Exhibition view
Portals Series | Exhibition view
“I am interested in the matter as condensation of light and its process of transformation and expansion of energy over time, releasing weight to return to the origin.”
Portal 86 | Enamel on canvas
Here, forces of attraction grapple with the machinations of natural territory. Energy condensed into matter as a living mantle, constantly moving, pushing and pulling against itself, the tension between inertia and entropy forcing fractures in mass.
Portals is a reflection on these spaces: the intersections of interaction. The space between things that opens when they tear apart; conflict bearing a rift that is visually the essence of emptiness, yet at once also a cradle where energy arises from stasis. The artist gives form and presence to these portals, creating shape from the void. The darkness of the unknown is revealed as a gateway to endless new possibilities, a light that can (and will) be transformed again into forms anew.
Portal 90 | Enamel on canvas
Matter is Condensed Light | Wall sculpture
Matter is Condensed Light | Wall sculpture
This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City. He has previously exhibited in Los Angeles, Solana Beach, Palm Springs and Miami and extensively internationally, including in Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, England, Emirates, Italy, Malta, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, where he was born.
“I seek to cover different scales within my artistic approach, from the massiveness of the mountains and rocks, through its decanting process and fragmentation up to the stone as the basic unit. I am interested in the matter as condensation of light and its process of transformation and expansion of energy over time, releasing weight to return to the origin.”
Portals | Exhibition views
Text above © A La Luz | Images by the artist | Produced for A La Luz, 2022 | Please do not re-publish any of the above without prior written consent
