MACARENA RIOSECO
Portfolio: http://insight.lancaster.ac.uk/?author=35
CV: https://goo.gl/nGWJrH
E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected]
Phone: +44 785 192 3336
ABSTRACTING: A Phenomenological Process of Abstraction in Painting
Through my work I aim to redefine the concept of Abstraction in painting. This new
definition is in antithesis to a static conception of “The Abstract” as a representational
category. I propose that Abstraction in painting is an en-active phenomenon in which
a painter dynamically engages with pictorial materials through a performative process,
almost in the form of a dialogue. I define this process as “Abstracting”, a method that
departures from representation to engage with painting as an action. Abstracting then
is a subjectified dynamic phenomenon that appears in the world embodied through the
marks of paint that are left on the pictorial plane.
Macarena by Felipe Baeza Fuentes - Photorealistic 3D sculpture Digital - 2014
In my case this process initiates by taking specific elements as references. For
instance, I use combinations of models such as fractal geometry, numerical operations,
colour relations, light and water waves, and even abstract concepts from diverse disciplines. From these I then elaborate abstract compositions which embody different levels
of abstraction. At early stages of my creative research I engaged mainly with a formalist
approach as I depicted specific geometric shapes. Then I gradually started to dissolve
these shapes and further engage with a more performative practice that is closely tied to
the pictorial gesture. I structure my paintings now through the division of the pictorial
plane in a fine grid. There I compose fractal relations between very subtle degradations
of colours by performing a single pictorial gesture. I often use golden leaf as a material,
which, through light reflection, affects dramatically the perception of colour relations.
My research endeavour is centred on an aesthetic, historical and theoretical analysis of geometry as a cross-cultural element. Geometry has existed in art throughout
very diverse and distant eras of human history. It has been widely used as a source
for defining relationships between the domains of philosophy, science, art and religion.
From a more contemporary angle, geometry crucially intersects with systemic frameworks such as Complexity Theory. “Complexity” (which stands for the interweaving of
units) is one of the most meaningful conceptual aspects of my research. Complexity Theory studies phenomena that emerge from the combination of interacting units through
time and hence, understands phenomena as being in a constant state of transformation.
Concepts such as “fractal patterns”, “complex collective formations” and “emergent
properties”, are notion that inherently characterise this paradigm, which I use as direct
references for my work.
My artistic stance is also profoundly affected by Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophical framework, in particular their ontological conception of becoming. While my
creative practice originates as a performance and is expressed visually, Deleuze and
Guattari’s ontology has been fundamental to describe my artistic endeavour.At the same
time, the visual and material structure of my paintings interweaves and physically delineates some key concepts of their philosophical enquiry. Hence, the integration between
ideas and objects that is activated between Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy and my
paintings is an interesting example of an interdisciplinary practice-based research approach to painting.
My aim is to visualise movement, difference and change through a medium that
traditionally has been mostly characterised by a static approach to the representation
of reality. I want to challenge the limits of the “staticiness” of painting in order to align
it to a dynamic understanding of the world based on transformation. Additionally, my
interest in painting mainly resides in its performative dimension. Therefore, I conceive
paintings as objects which themselves may document and provide evidence of the specific actions that have been carried out throughout their execution. In addition to that, I
have found in this concrete practice a mean of meditation, embodiment and visualisation
of an ideological stand, which I could not be conveyed in any other form.
From an audience’s perspective, my work aims to create spaces where people are
induced to engage in contemplative processes of images, which do not seem to have
any concrete reference to the material world. Depending on factors such as the time of
observation, the positioning of the viewer or the lightning conditions, the observer can
always encounter new perceptions and relations between colours, shapes or materials.
Consequently, the experience of perception of my paintings would appear complex and
in transformation. In other words, despite the direct perception of the same painting, in
every second that passes, this experience would constantly appear as a different one.
I begun my research about Geometry focussing on its use along history
to visually connect religion together with science and art.
“The implicit goal of this education (Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy
and Harmony and Music) was to enable the mind to become a channel through
which the ´earth´ (the level of manifested form) could receive the abstract, cosmic life of the heavens. The practice of geometry was an approach to the way in
which the universe is ordered and sustained.”
Lawlor, Robert. (1982) Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice. London:
Thames and Hudson Ltd: 6.
“The whole of philosophy is sketched out in that tremendous book which
always lies open before our eyes. I speak of the universe. But in order to understand it, one must first study its language and letters. It is written in the language
of mathematics and its letters are triangles, circumferences and other geometric
figures, without a knowledge of which it is impossible to understand a single
word”. -Leonardo Da Vinci.
“In Plato’s Timaeus, the sphere had been identify as the most perfect
form and hence the one chosen by the creator for the universe”.
Short, C. (n.d.) The Role of Mathematical Structure, Natural Form, and Pattern in
Art Theory of Wassily Kandinky: The Quest of Ordern and Unity: 64 & 68.
Golden Fractal - 40 x 40 inchs & Details - 2048 Styrofoam balls and Gilding (metal
leaf) on Canvas - Oct 2012
Fractals: Contrast - 48 x 48 inch - Oil on canvas - Dec 2012
The principal concept developed in these two paintings is contrast. In this case the diptych and the elements
of the paintings were used as a configuration to represent
complementary opposites.
Like the yin – yang of Chinese philosophy, that literally means ´shadow and light´ and which describes how polar
opposites are interconnected and interdependent in nature.
Incunabula - Group Exhibition at Cambridge, UK - 29 April / 05 May 2013
Fractal geometry as “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts,
each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole”. Mandelbrot, Benoit B. (1983). The Fractal Geometry of Nature.
W.H. Freeman and Company, New York.
In Devotion fractal geometry was used as
a reference for making images that refer to spirituality through signs and symbols.
“icon paintings was also “suprematist” in
its concern to the absolute rather than the circumstantial, with space and time beyond the
immediate, with things beyond the visible. The
icon is a sign, not a representation: its figurative
elements are conventional significations rather
that portraits of an earthly being, and its space
is a cosmic, two-dimensional, unchanging gold,
a sign for an infinite spiritual reality that cannot
be pictured”.
Gooding, M. (2001). Abstract Art. Movements in
Modern Art. London: Tate Publishing: 18.
Fractals: Devotion - 33 x 33cm - Egg Tempera and Gilding (metal leaf) on Wood & Details - Dec 2012
In this diptych by bringing together
fractions of the different geometric shapes
and levels of magnification of the images
that conformed Fractals: Devotion, a new
whole was composed.
These works could be interpreted as
secular paintings that refer to cosmology
and religion, through symbols and the technique used.
Fractals: Transformation: 1) Moon 2)
Sun - 40 x 40cm - Egg Tempera and Gilding (Silver and Gold) on Wood & Detals
- March 2013
“In Plato’s philosophy, true reality resides in
the Eternal Forms or Ideas that make it possible
to understand ordinary physical objects. Thus, according to Plato the way to gain knowledge is to
directly encounter these “platonic” Forms”. Casti, John L. Complexity and Aesthetics: Is Good
Art “Complex” Art?: 21. In Casti and Karlqvist Eds.
(2003) Art and Complexity. Amsterdam: Elsevier
Science B.V.: 21-29
Fractals: Platonic Solids: 1) Tetrahedron – 2)
Octahedron – 3) Icosahedron - 23 x 23cm - Egg
Tempera and Gilding (metal leaf) on Wood &
Details - April 2013
A SITE SPECIFIC OR SITE RESPONSIVE APPROACH
TO THE ROUND CHURCH?
relationship to the art works made, in terms of form, materials, concept etc. Of course, artists, like anyone else,
respond to these “raw materials” in individual ways.’
‘Site-specific’ art refers to an artist’s intervention in a specific location, in the creation of an artwork that is integrated with its surroundings and that explores its relationship
to its environment, whether indoors or out.
Macarena Rioseco’s paintings appear to belong to the
latter category in the very particular relationships she
draws out in both the architecture of the building and its
religious setting, the term icon referring not only to the
spatial geometry of a spiritual environment but also to
historical devotional paintings. Here she has directly responded to her environment in her choice of materials, in
the use of gold leaf and egg-tempera, those raw materials
traditionally used for the execution of religious painted
icons in the Byzantine era and in the geometric shapes
she depicts. What these draw out are the larger philosophical questions inherent in the very terminology and
paradoxical meaning of an icon, in that which is regarded
on the one hand as a representative symbol of veneration,
and on the other hand as infinite and unrepresentable.
In doing so these small ornamental geometrical paintings
draw viewers to not only look at the work itself, but to
contemplate its existence (and their own), in both its immediate surroundings, the church, and also within its
wider universal environment.
Dr. Véronique Chance
Also, known as ‘environmental art’, the term also applies
to an installation or artwork that is made specifically for a
particular gallery or public space, that is meant to become
part of its locale, and in doing so restructures the viewer’s
conceptual and perceptual experience through that intervention.
However, as artist and curator Gillian McIver has pointed
out, the term ‘site-specific art’ has also proved controversial, in that there has been some contention as to whether
this ‘applies to work made specifically for a site’ (such as
a commissioned public artwork or sculpture) or to ‘work
made in response to an encounter with site.’ Perhaps, the term is applicable to both? Whilst this may
seem a moot point, there is she argues, a profound difference between the two types of work. In highlighting this
difference she comes up with perhaps a more appropriate
term for the latter, in what she calls ‘site-responsive’ art.
Ibid.
‘Site response in art’, she explains, ‘occurs when the artist
is engaged in an investigation of the site as part of the process in making the work. The investigation will take into account geography, locality, topography, community (local,
historical and global), history (local, private and national).
These can be considered to be “open source” – open for
anyone’s use and interpretation. This process has a direct
FRACTALS: ICONS
Solo Exhibition at the Round Church,
Cambrdige UK - 30 Sept / 11 Oct 2013
Site specific art has been a subject of much critical debate in relation to
contemporary art practice over recent years. Key texts include Erika Suderberg’s ‘Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art’, Miwon Kwon’s
‘One Place after Another : Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity’ and Clare
Docherty’s ‘Situation’ (Documents of Contemporary Art).
McIver, Gillian ‘Art/Site/Context’, from the author produced critical website
www.sitespecificart.org
“The icon is a sign, not a representation: its figurative elements are
conventional significations rather that portraits of an earthly being,
and its space is a cosmic, two dimensional, unchanging gold, a sign
for an infinite spiritual reality that cannot be pictured.” - Mel Gooding,
(2001) Abstract Art. Movements in Modern Art Fractal Geometry was formalized in the late 70s by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot and came to extend the classical framework of
Euclidean geometry that had been dominant for centuries in Western
philosophical and scientific thinking. According to Mandelbrot, a fractal is “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into
parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of
the whole”. Presenting a dynamic interrelationship between the parts
and the whole, in a fractal shape, every unit is a whole and a part at
the same time, and as a consequence of this iteration, fractals are
theoretically eternal. Interestingly, while Fractals were introduced to
the scientific community only recently, their presence is apparent in
numerous artistic and religious expressions since ancient times.
As an interweaving between notions belonging to science and religion
this project was constructed and guided by concepts that can be found
on Leonardo Da Vinci’s writings and Plato’s Timaeus. Plato’s idea that
“the universe is in the form of a sphere” allows us to establish a direct
relationship with the site. Being the sphere and the circle continuous
shapes, that is to say, having no beginning or end, in this sense, they
can symbolize unity, wholeness and infinity. Also as described by the
Greek philosopher: “having its extremes in every direction equidistant
from the centre, the most perfect and the most like itself of all figures”,
therefore, “a body entire and perfect, and formed out of perfect bodies.”
In the case of Da Vinci’s writings, ideas were exposed on how the universe could act as a source of philosophical knowledge. However, he
added, “in order to understand it, one must first study its language
and letters. It is written in the language of mathematics and its letters
are triangles, circumferences and other geometric figures, without a
knowledge of which it is impossible to understand a single word.”
In Fractals: Icons, the rotunda of the Round Church appears as a perfect wholeness, container of eight Icon paintings depicting fragmented
geometric shapes. Altogether, with these paintings the intention is to
convey ideas like the one presented by Fractals that states that we are
all wholes but, at the same time, we are also parts of a bigger one, just,
at different scales of magnification.
FRACTALS: ICONS
Solo Intervention with paintings at the St Paul’s Church, Lancaster UK - 14 April / 9 Dec 2015
Fractals: Platonic Solids: Un/Folded - MAMFAMA. MA Final Group Exhibition at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge UK - 26 Aug / 13 Sept 2013
This project was shaped by the act of unfolding three
of the Platonic Solids – Tetrahedron, Octahedron, Icosahedron – and a subsequent fragmentation of them into triangular modules. Each module was treated and planed in
order to behave as independent units, however, maintaining the property of being able to compound a bigger and
more complex whole when being rearranged all together. The works produced here can be understood as hybrids
between objects and paintings or a stage between two and
three dimensional representation, that is to say: a fractal
dimension expressed as a volume unfolded in the plane.
Besides, this project is an invitation for the viewer to
construct the different Platonic Solids by virtually folding
the nets and thus, the movement for construction is expected to take place in their minds. Overall, this work could
be interpreted as an abstract approach to 3D construction,
since the objects will remain as ideas, however, becoming
present in an abstract way through imagination.
zIn terms of complexity and fragmentation, this work
depicted ideas such as how different arrangements of the
same - i.e. triangles - , can lead to different outcomes - i.e.
platonic solids -. Conversely, how the platonic solids can be
fragmented in same units. Also, how joining units can make
a dimensional change from 2D to 3D and thus, a qualitative
change of dimension can be experienced when the units are
gathered to build a more complex whole. The three nets can
act as a progression in complexity and, at the same time, as
a progression in scales of fragmentation.
Fractals: Platonic Solids: Un/Folded: Tetrahedron - equilateral triangles of 30cm side - Egg Tempera and Gilding
(metal leaf) on Wood - Aug 2013
Fractals: Platonic Solids: Un/Folded: Octahedron - equilateral triangles of 25cm side - Egg Tempera and Gilding
(metal leaf) on Wood - Aug 2013
Fractals: Platonic Solids: Un/Folded: Icosahedron - equilateral triangles of 20cm side - Egg Tempera and Gilding
(metal leaf) on Wood - Aug 2013
Fractals: Platonic Solids: Un/Folded: Cube - 19 X 19 X 19cm - Egg Tempera and Gilding (metal leaf) on Wood - Aug
2013
TEXT IN SITU
FRACTALS: PLATONIC SOLIDS: UN/FOLDED
“In the first place [...] fire and earth and water
and air are bodies. And every sort of body possesses
solidity, and every solid must necessarily be contained
in planes. [...] Wherefore we must endeavour to construct the four forms of bodies which excel in beauty [...] when the greater bodies are broken up, many
small bodies will spring up out of them and take their
own proper figures; or, again, when many small bodies
are dissolved into their triangles, if they become one,
they will form one large mass of another kind“.
“The first will be the simplest and smallest construction [...] four equilateral triangles, if put together,
make out of every three plane angles one solid angle
[...] and out of the combination of these four angles
arises the first solid form. [...] The second species of
solid is formed out of [...] eight equilateral triangles
and form one solid angle out of four plane angles, and
out of six such angles the second body is completed.
And the third body is made up of [...] twelve solid angles, each of them included in five plane equilateral
triangles, having altogether twenty b ases [...] the isosceles triangle produced the fourth elementary figure,
which is compounded of four such triangles, joining
their right angles in a centre, and forming one equilateral quadrangle. Six of these united form eight solid
angles, each of which is made by the combination of
three plane right angles; the figure of the body thus
composed is a cube“.
“To earth, then, let us assign the cubical form;
for earth is the most immoveable of the four and the
most plastic of all bodies, and that which has the most
stable bases must of necessity be of such a nature [...]
and to water we assign that one of the remaining forms
which is the least moveable; and the most moveable of
them to fire; and to air that which is intermediate. Also
we assign the smallest body to fire, and the greatest to
water, and the intermediate in size to air; and, again,
the acutest body to fire, and the next in acuteness to
air, and the third to water. Of all these elements, that
which has the fewest bases must necessarily be the
most moveable, for it must be the acutest and most
penetrating in every way, and also the lightest as being composed of the smallest number of similar particles [...] the pyramid is the solid which is the original
element and seed of fire; and let us assign the element
which was next in the order of generation to air, and
the third to water. We must imagine all these to be so
small that no single particle of any of the four kinds
is seen by us on account of their smallness: but when
many of them are collected together their aggregates
are seen“.
Plato (circa 360 BC.) Timaeus. Translated from Greek
by B. Jowett
The Cube adds the presence of a volume in the
display which, together with the text in the wall,
links the idea of construction to the unfolded
nets.
FRACTALS: PLATONIC SOLIDS: UN/FOLDED - Exhibition at The Dukes, Lancaster UK. - 4 / 31 August 2014
PIXEL PAINTINGS: TONE - HUE - SATURATION
Study for Value - 20 X 20cm - Egg Tempera an Gilding (copper and metal leaf) on Wood - June 2013
FRACTALS: PIXELS - Exhibition for PhD Confirmation Panel. Bowland Anexes Building, Lancaster University UK - 20 / 25 Sept 2015
Fractals: Value - 100 X 100cm - Acrylic on Canvas - August 2014
Fractals: Value - Details - Acrylic on Canvas - August 2014
Fractals: Tone/Hue & Saturation (diptych) - 100 X 100cm - Acrylic and Gilding (metal leaf on the borders of the canvas) on Canvas - February 2015
Fractals: Tone/Hue & Saturation (diptych) - Details - Acrylic and Gilding (metal leaf on the borders of the canvas) on Canvas - February 2015
FRACTALS: PIXELS - Exhibition for PhD Confirmation Panel. Bowland Anexes Building, Lancaster University UK - 20 / 25 Sept 2015
Fractals: Woven Brushstrokes: Sunset - 128 X 128cm - Oil on Canvas - June 2015
Fractals: Woven Brushstrokes: Sunset - Details - Oil on Canvas - June 2015
Fractals: Tone/Hue & Saturation (triptych) - 30 X 30cm each - Acrylic on Canvas / Gilding (metal leaf) & Oil on Canvas / Acrylic on Canvas - April 2015
Fractals: Tone/Hue & Saturation (triptych) - Details - Acrylic on Canvas / Gilding (metal leaf) & Oil on Canvas / Acrylic on Canvas - April 2015
FRACTALS: PIXELS - Exhibition for PhD Confirmation Panel. Bowland Anexes Building, Lancaster University UK - 20 / 25 Sept 2015
Fractals: Tone/Hue & Saturation: Modular Paintings (triptych) - 30 X 30cm each - Acrylic & Gilding (metal leaf on the side) on Canvas - June 2014
Different arrangements of a same Modular Painting
Sketches and preparatory work - Acryic on Canvas - 2014
Sketches and preparatory work - Acryic on Paper - 50 X 80 cm - 30 X 30 cm - 30 X 30 cm - 30 X 30 cm - April 2015
INBETWEENNESS
Lancaster PhD Students Goup Exhibition at the Storey
Gallery, Lancaster UK - 24 / 28 Nov 2015
Fractals: Atoms (diptych)
96 X 96 cm (each)
Gilding (metal leaf) and Oil on Canvas
/ Oil on Canvas
November 2015
Fractals: Atoms (diptych) - Details - Gilding (metal leaf) and Oil on Canvas / Oil on Canvas - November 2015
Sketches for: Fractals: Atoms: Waves & Details - 35 X 30 cm (each) - Gouache on Paper - November 2015
Sketches for: Fractals: Atoms: Waves & Details - 35 X 30 cm (each) - Gouache on Paper - November 2015
Fractals: Atoms: Waves & Detail - 35 X 30 cm - Gouache on Paper - November 2015
Fractals: Atoms: Waves (triptych)
117 X 117 cm (each)
Cotton threads, Gilding (metal
leaf) and Oil on Canvas
Work in progress
May 2016
Fractals: Atoms: Waves (triptych) - 117 X 117 cm (each) - Cotton threads, Gilding (metal leaf) and Oil on Canvas - May 2016
Fractals: Atoms: Waves (triptych) - details - Cotton threads, Gilding (metal leaf) and Oil on Canvas - Work in progress & finished - May 2016
Tecnical specifications of the project:
Title: Fractals: Chromatic Continuum
Pieces: 7 Paintings in the gallery
space (see pianta) and one Cube.
Medium: Oil on Canvas. and gouash
on gessoed wood.
Dimensions: 100X100cm. each painting and 25X25 cm. the cube
Preparatory work for Fractals: Chromatic Continuum - 30 X 35 cm (each) and details - Gouache on Paper - September 2016
Fractals: Chromatic Continuum - 100 X 100 cm (each) and details - oil on canvas - December 2016