How Rocks Move. Dirimart Gallery. 2017
Dirimart is pleased to announce Yago Hortal’s first exhibition in Turkey, How Rocks Move, that brings together new works by the artist where he has experimented with traces and tracing through paintings. Marking, showing, proving are notions that Hortal works with, emphasizing the relationship of these notions with the word “rastro” in Spanish. The artist’s interpretations are focused on conceptions of evolution, progress, and movement.
Hortal’s point of departure is the seemingly impossible movements of rocks in the Death Valley in Nevada. The rocks move on sand with what appears to be a propelling force from the outside; the traces of these movements are only visible for a short amount of time. The artist relates this phenomenon with the painter’s gestures and painting’s relationship with recording and time. If every painting is an expression of a journey, then the final painting is a record, a memory of that state.
Yago Hortal, who lives and works in Barcelona, uses vivid colors as visual motives in his striking abstract paintings. His works are anchored in the harmony between form and color, seeking an impossible balance. He makes visible the markings of brushes and paint, enabling the viewers to experience the process and history of the painting. The artist also points to a shift in the paradigm of time, oscillating between chaos and order, playing with various images and situations in our minds through a rich and intense visual palette.
