TEXT BY RUTH AUERBACH

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Carolina Otero, a Venezuelan artist who has lived and worked in Houston, Texas since 2013, unveils her latest exhibition project. This endeavor establishes a visual repertoire in which nature and space emerge as recurring motifs, stemming from the artist's cultural encounters with architecture and music.

 

Her singular and exquisitely nuanced artistic process arises from introspection and inner contemplation. In this manner, she shapes an aesthetic expression that is distinctly her own, yet universally resonant, drawing a parallel to L'Inframince, a concept coined by Marcel Duchamp to capture the ephemeral and fleeting subtleties of reality. Carolina Otero's creative journey appears to emerge from the depths of her subconscious, skillfully translating the imperceptible into a visual dialogue encompassing constructed imagery. This transformation is achieved through the art of collage, as well as a diverse array of media, including photography, drawing, printmaking, and, most recently, three-dimensional reliefs incorporating an array of materials.

 

Her visual language delves into a primal concept that transcends content and holds a distinct fascination for the contours, brushstrokes, and imprints of the human experience, resonating with landscapes, remnants, and archaeological traces from ancient and recent civilizations. Rather than aiming to replicate reality, her intention is to capture the fundamental essence of her observations through a contemporary and relational process. In pursuit of this, each new artwork is meticulously crafted by fragmenting discarded drawings and employing their intricate details to form delicate collages. These two approaches converge into a cohesive proposition that remains open to the influences of time and place.

 

Throughout the pandemic, her frequent walks have served as a window into her profound dialogues with the surroundings. From this engagement, a poetics of intuition and discovery arises, unburdened by confines and extending beyond the boundaries of the observable real and her abstractions.

 

Each of the series included in this exhibition (her first solo exhibition in Venezuela in over a decade), dismantles established imagery, unveiling an uncertain horizon. Through this unveiling, a more subjective and transcendent perspective is presented to us, offering an alternative vision that beckons us beyond ourselves.

  

Within "Neumas," the intricately carved clay reliefs seem to translate a cryptic language akin to medieval musical notation—stripped of narrative and transformed into essential graphic symbols. The disposition of these potential "cultural vestiges" blends seamlessly with the pristine wall, forming an articulated linear arrangement. Conversely, in "Tablatura," the collection of fragments, crafted from white ceramic, composes a structured relief, revealing multiple lines of transcribed graphs derived from an earlier drawing. These graphs have now metamorphosed into codes imbued with a tactile and delicate essence.
 

Emerging from a multifaceted artistic practice that encompasses various mediums, the “Diálogos” series sees drawing and photography asserting their autonomy. These digital prints establish a close formal connection between the concepts of nature and architecture. Within them, fragments of shapes and fleeting imprints, both material and human, are articulated to reexamine habitat and ecosystem, anchoring the genesis of a personal perspective.

 

Out of her intrigue for the boundless graphic potential of the contemporary realm, coupled with the fusion of diverse materials and technologies, emerges “Transiciones” —a collection of small, nuanced collages formed by imprinting fragmented drawings onto translucent paper. In a similar vein, Carolina Otero conceives the thought-provoking concepts behind experimental printing, aptly titled “Time Travels-Confluence.” Here, she meticulously merges several digital printing techniques with the traditional art of silkscreen.

 

Radiating a sense of tranquility, introspection, and contemplation, Carolina Otero's sensitive proposition beckons us to delve into the unsettling aspects of existence, probing the depths of human vulnerability and the inescapable awareness of our interconnectedness.

 

Ruth Auerbach