Thinkspace Projects in cooperation with Spoke Art presents:
“EPHEMERAL TREASURES”
New paintings and sculpture from DULK
Taking Place At:
Spoke Art
210 Rivington St,
New York, NY 10002
On view: February 20, 2020 – March 13, 2021
The place where we live is one of the most valuable physical properties we have. We usually put all our efforts to make it comfortable, to be able to call it our home. This contrast with how we deal where our home lives, planet Earth.
Our planet is home to millions of species, including ours and it is the only planet where is known the existence of the treasure that is life.
The Earth, home of thousands of animals and plant species, has an incredible beauty that is difficult to define, it goes beyond what our mind could ever imagine. Mountains, valleys, plains, seas and rivers make up the masterpiece of chance and time, while the vegetation and animals that occupy the canvas give it that much-needed final touch, the spark that ignites everything.
However, many times these places that seem eternal are the first to disappear more and more frequently. Phenomena such as global warming, deforestation or natural disasters often cause damage that affect directly to the natural wonders of the planet. If it’s added the poor control by human beings and the pollution and destruction of environments that we cause, it is understood that every day the real risk of losing the wonders of our world increases.
The term ephemeral is a qualifying adjective that is used to designate those things or circumstances that last for a short time and that occur briefly. The concept of ephemeral comes from the Greek, ephemeros, which literally means ‘lasting a single day’. Everyday the number of species that disappear from our planet is increasing and with them their stories of evolution, identities and treasures that we will never see again.
All the artworks in this exhibition are based in my inspiration trips around the world. “Nakuru” and “Sudan” are based in my latest trip to Kenya. I wanted to visit the rhino Sanctuary “Olpejeta” conservancy since long time ago because there lived the 3 latest northern white rhinoceros in the world. One of them was Sudan, the last known male of this subspecies. Sudan was euthanized on 19 March 2018, after suffering from “age-related complications”. I had the opportunity to visit his tomb and the tomb of other rhinos that passed away in Olpejeta. This place was so magical and inspiring to me. After this I wanted to pay tribute to this magnificent animal with the painting and the sculpture Sudan.
In the same trip I visited Lake Nakuru National Park too. Here we found many birds like flamingos or saddle-billed stork, and also so many white rhinos but the most amazing animals we found there were the Rothschild’s giraffes, that are one of the most endangered distinct populations of giraffe. I wanted to paint an artwork inspired in three generations of these endangered giraffes, hopping they will be recovered in time.
The same year I had the opportunity to visit Cristal River (FL), USA where I could swim with magical creatures like Manatees. One of the most amazing experiences I ever had in my life. The moment that we were swimming in a middle of a river in a December cold morning and suddenly started appearing tens of curious manatees around us. They were swimming all around and playing with us, it was incredible. I wanted to share my experience there with a painting of a manatee and her calf surrounded by more manatees and other creatures.
India is one of the countries in my Wishlist to visit as soon as we could travel again. We had planned a trip for last year but due to the pandemic I had to postponed. I always wanted to see tiger in freedom in their own habitat but also the experience to visit an Asiatic jungle makes me so inspired too. Should be completely different to any other part of the world due to the landscapes and animals which lives there. “Ephemeral treasures” is a painting that show us this magnificent creatures that are like natural treasures but at the same time if we don’t take care of the nature and their habitat will be ephemeral.
The biggest painting I created for this exhibition is “Bird concert: Songs of extinct birds”. I always wanted to reinterpret my own version of the “Bird concert” paintings of Flemish painters of the 17th century. Compositions on this theme represent different species of birds perched on tree trunks in the form of a concert of birds, sometimes with a musical score. The concert represents Wisdom, as the owl, which is the animal representing this quality, is sometimes depicted as the conductor of the bird concerts. A further interpretation is that the concert of birds symbolically alludes to harmony and natural regulation, in the sense of balance with nature. These concepts are embodied in the systematization of the birds’ song.
The Concerts of Birds have also been considered allusions to the sense of hearing, although the interpretation is unclear. Moreover, these concerts of birds symbolically refer to concerted order in nature, a sense of balance with nature evoked by the musical systematization of birdsong. The subject was much exploited by Frans Snyders’ and his followers in Flanders and France. In the Spanish Netherlands, these included Paul de Vos, Jan Fyt and Jan Van Kessel.
In my interpretation I have tried to maintain the characteristics of this type of work but instead of singing a single song, all the birds together, from the five continents are singing the songs of some of the extinct birds of our planet. Books that treasure their melodies in a song to freedom and union between them all.
It’s more than know the critic situation of the Artic and all the species which lives there. I needed to show this under my point of view and show this to the world. This triptych it’s a paintings were all the artic species are in an apocalypses time. Polar bear flying to the sky and disappearing, puffins dancing and watching the whales showing their engraved tales where we can see the story of their ancient when they were killed by the humans to extinction brink.
In this collection I want to pay tribute to some of the places on the planet where nature urgently demands a truce. Works that function as dream windows into an ideally threatened landscape. Endemic characters extinct or in danger of extinction coexist in each one of them, becoming authentic treasures protected by the twilight light that tries to hide an increasingly threatening truth. Innocent looks with the force of a deafening silence.