Dead Time

The passage of time is one of the most influential themes when regarding the work I’ve been producing since the early nineties. The passage of time represented in several ways and through different approaches; by the trail that it’s immaterial and intangible presence leaves on spaces and objects, the matter accumulation, solids that are slowly deposited on surfaces as a concentration of dust, by the suggestion of memories of real events that we no longer hold as remembrance. These ideas were developed in works made from different materials and media: using sunlight, dust, pieces of clothes left in the filter of a drying machine, cut out newspapers headlines and many others. All these works require that the materials they are built from stay a long time in storage, sometimes several years. The making of each piece requires a slow perception of the passage of time; in a violent contrast with the velocity our everyday lives are now perceived. It can be said that with this works I try to give an intemporal character to our daily and homely activities.
Under the generic title “Dead Time” I present three different groups of work structuring this exhibition. As an idiomatic expression, dead time means a halt in a progression, a period with no activity, where all action is suspended. It is also the title I used for a group of photos I took in the Tabacalera building, in San Sebastian. By the time I took the photos the factory had been closed for some years. Inside the building there were few vestiges of the activity that once gave it life, of the human presence suddenly discontinued. Trails from huge machines drawn in thick layers of dust, the painting peeling off the walls and ceiling, furniture and random sheets of paper. When shooting this series I decided to hang some photos from different authors, belonging to the collection of Enrique Ordóñez, on the walls. By doing so I created a unique situation where the abandoned building meets work that, appearing to have once belonged to it, is completely separated from that reality.
The second group of work, “Malezas”, is built from photos representing brambles killed by winter. The lines and structure of the dead shrub could almost relate to one of Pollock’s paintings but are covered with spines, manifesting an aggressivity that remains despite the lifeless condition of the plant. These are insurmountable images that do not allow us to advance our gaze beyond their surface unless we are available for pain.
The paintings that build “Carta de Colores” suspend all their possible content and relate solely to painting. These works have as theme painting itself and what the viewer can see when positioning himself in front of them.

Ignasi Aballí