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Unknown Structures / Unnamed Spaces
Rodrigo Rosa
[26/04/18 - 12/05/18]

Foco Galeria Unknown Structures / Unnamed Spaces

Exhibition View

Foco Galeria Unknown Structures / Unnamed Spaces

Tower, series Unknown Structures, 2018

Cement and gravel

15x15x30 cm

Foco Galeria Unknown Structures / Unnamed Spaces

Untitled #1 (Towers), series Unnamed Spaces, 2018

Mixed media on paper

200×151 cm

The present exhibition introduces us to a series of sculptures, as well as the drawings that originated from them.
The marriage between sculpture and drawing raises questions that do not seek to be answered, but thought about indefinetely; questions about the intimate relationship between artist and the urban landscape, and the way that relationship is used to question its own pictorial gesture and representation.

“I have a very specific perspective of the city; I hate it intensely to the point of ecstasy, and end up, somehow, enjoying it”, says Rodrigo Rosa, “it’s contradictory, an undeniable case of Stockholm Syndrome; that which makes me feel caged is what reassures me – as if there was an ‘universal order’ to things, or even the exact opposite. To put it bluntly, it makes me feel alive”.

This is a fairly melancholic, somewhat sad vision, that, nevertheless, allows the artist to feel comfortable in the chaotic ordeal that is the artistic process. It is, undoubtely, a special sensation: to drift along the streets – in autopilot mode, a psychic automatism, I would say – in which each detail, each cracked tile and each misplaced brick have their own story, their own identity and their own order – “I take this relationship to be intrinsical, and I want the observer to be a part of it and have their own experience”.

Objects that have been collected by the artist, with their own story and individual traits – almost personal – are re-contextualized to construct that which Rodrigo Rosa names Unknown Structures. These sculptures (Tower, Tower II, Tower III, Tower IV and Tower V) are defined by the way that the identity of their parts open up – or rather, become available to – the observer, offering a narrow selection of possible meanings – sustained mostly by allusions to the urban environment and its architecture. These sculptures clash directly with the drawings of the Unnamed Spaces series. The relationship between drawing and sculpture assumes a vital role in this exhibition, assigning a key role to the observer in the pursuing and ascribing meaning.

“My intention is, mostly, allow the observer to formulate their own context and shape these objects’ own story, much the same way we create our own personal universes through our surroundings, achieving a private approximation between artistic object and observer. And, in the end, who knows what the possibilities present in the relationship between drawing and sculpture can offer the world in terms of meaning? This collision between intrepretation and perception raises major questions, but do those questions truly warrant answers? Or should they just be pondered indefinitely? That is the role of the observer.”