Since the 1980s, the ecological theme has been a constant in my artistic production, as well as the incorporation of computer boards and other accessories of our technological daily life. The series of works called “CARTOGRAPHIES OF GAIA” presents works that reproduce several cartographic projections to treat the current situation of environmental degradation on the planet. Planetary degradation, caused by the actions of human beings eager for immediate enrichment, immeasurable material comfort and the assumption that, with technology, we can dominate nature.
The two and three-dimensional works were carried out using the traditional technique of oil painting and the incorporation of objects discarded by contemporary society. The joint use of these two apparently antagonistic factors (tradition and contemporaneity) generates the compositional challenge of obtaining a visual harmonization during the creative process of each work that, when completed, provokes in the observer philosophical reflections on the pollution of the environment and the consequent decline of the quality of life for man on the planet.
The support for the works are wood, plastic objects, aluminum sphere and the traditional canvas. Objects discarded by contemporary society were incorporated into the supports, such as: computer boards (sawn and ground or in pieces and shards), electronic components (processors, chips, speakers, diodes, capacitors and resistors), computer keyboards, credit cards, revolver bullets, meat grinders, scales, keys, padlocks, clocks and clock domes, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic film, acupuncture needles and straws, jewelry, coins, burnt matchsticks , sharpened pencil peels, eraser sharps, shards of glass, etc. I also incorporated elements from nature, such as: seeds, shells, snails, earth, sand, stones, armadillo shell, etc.
Todos os componentes que eu usei foram colocados de acordo com um planejamento de ordem estética a fim de criar texturas e efeitos visuais peculiares que provocam a curiosidade do espectador. Em alguns quadros, pintei de forma realista (como detalhe) o mapa da região apresentada no quadro inteiro a fim de criar um elo que fecha o quadro em si mesmo, ou seja: o quadro é um detalhe dele mesmo e um detalhe dele é o quadro todo.
Cartografias de Gaia tem um total de 44 obras em que utilizei a interpretação artística de projeções cartográficas da seguinte forma:
All the components I used were placed according to an aesthetic planning in order to create unique textures and visual effects that provoke the viewer's curiosity. In some works, I painted realistically (as a detail) the map of the region presented in the entire frame in order to create a link that closes the frame in itself, that is: the frame is a detail of itself and a detail of it is the whole frame.
Cartographies of Gaia has a total of 44 works in which I used the artistic interpretation of cartographic projections as follows:
TWO-DIMENSIONAL WORKS
• 1 panel measuring 2.5m X 2.5m was made with printed circuit boards, computer keyboards and mice;
o It represents the extreme importance that man gives to the use of technology today. Therefore, the earth is represented as an egg, whose protective layer is composed of computer keyboards and the sperm that try to penetrate the egg are represented by mice;
• 5 works in oval, semicircular or multiform cartographic formats show all regions of the planet.
o These jobs were filled with credit cards (symbol of unbridled consumerism); keys (symbol of opening or closing of human paths), computer boards (symbol of current technology), several CDs (which represent the brilliant and apparent richness provided by current technology), acupuncture straws and clips, electronic mini buttons switches, diodes, electronic resistors and capacitors etc.
o One of the boards was made with 30,000 electronic diodes + 2,500 straws and 1,600 acupuncture needle clips + 500 capacitors and 400 electronic resistors. It also presents the five islands of plastic waste that float in a concentrated way in some parts of the oceans.
• 3 oval works with the world map represent the evolution of continents during geological ages.
o They represent the progression of technological pollution generated by humans over time, as the works establish an evolutionary parallel from the dawn of civilizations, when man spread across the planet using natural materials to conquer the environment, to the present day , in which man is polluting the planet in an unimaginable way. The tables were filled with guava seeds, sharpened pencil shavings and residues from electronic boards, plastics, metals, etc.;
• 2 paintings show the shapes of the first world maps, created in 1507, where the representation of the Americas appears for the first time.
o Um deles foi preenchido com placas de circuito eletrônico, sementes de goiaba e presilhas de agulhas de acupuntura e outro foi preenchido com lascas de lápis apontados, que representam o desmatamento europeu no século XVI. One of them was filled with electronic circuit boards, guava seeds, and acupuncture needle clips; and another was filled with sharpened pencil shavings, representing European deforestation in the 16th century.
• 6 circular paintings represent regions of the planet filled with the remains of objects that relate to the characteristics of each region, in order to represent the pollution caused by the excessive consumption of materials processed by the current industry.
o In South America, I used matchsticks to represent forest fires;
o In Europe, I used small pieces of computer boards to assemble a visual mosaic representing the various mini-regions that make up the continent;
o In Africa, I used sand due to the strong influence of the Sahara, as well as the drought in several regions of that continent;
o In North America, I used various computer chips and processors to represent the characteristic of the local technological society;
o In Asia, I used sharpened pencil shavings to represent the manual culture that still remains imperative in the region;
o In Oceania, I used computer board debris to represent the dominant industrial production in the region and which has been supplying the world market for electronic goods;
In the background of some works, I painted hands and feet (which represent the human occupation of the planet). In others, I handwritten a text, which follows linear compositional patterns specific to each work. This text, Letter from Chief Seattle, is known worldwide and has a very curious history:
American Indian chief Seattle gave a speech in 1855 during a peace treaty in which Indian lands were sold in exchange for a reservation. This speech was witnessed by an admirer of his, Henry A. Smith, who published it in a local newspaper in 1887, based on his recollections of the speech. In 1971, the speech was altered by screenwriter Ted Perry for a documentary on ecology. From then on, the text became known worldwide as Chief Seattle's reply letter to US President Franklin Pearce.
Although authorship is ambivalent, this communion of texts, in my view, presents a message, which is becoming increasingly current, for humanity. Therefore, I decided to include it in part of this series of works. Those interested in the full text can access it on my website: http://www.fwmartes.com.br/imprensa/114/carta-do-chefe-seattle
• 2 circular paintings show the terrestrial poles;
o In Antarctica I used electronic components debris to represent the marks of human and scientific occupation in the continent still little explored;
o In the Arctic I also used sharpened pencil shavings, however smeared with ink and oil, to represent the marks of human pollution on the sparsely inhabited continent.
• 1 circular work represents all continents seen simultaneously and filled with pieces of computer boards completely dirty with industrial oil (another symbol of technological pollution).
• 1 circular work, painted in gloomy colors, represents the image of the planet without water;
o In the painting “Without water”, I used a mixture of the tailings that I used in the other paintings to represent the continents and that, incorporated into the oil painting, become a dramatic representation Earth would be without water, based on an image captured by radar and released by the European Space Agency. This image is superimposed on a circle filled with shards of glass showing the limits of the water, which generates the rounded shape of the planet, instilled in our collective unconscious.
• 3 paintings with extravagant cartographies presente the world map filled with mini electronic push buttons, guava seeds and acupuncture needle clips;
o Two of them have a diamond shape, and the oceans were made in high relief using sawdust from printed circuit boards and electronics debris and the Arctic and Antarctic areas were filled with acupuncture needle clips. One of the works has the continents filled with 5,000 mini electronic push buttons and acupuncture needle clips.
o The third frame has a shape analogous to a heart, reproducing one of the various cartographic projections that exist.
• 2 works show the world map upside down.
o This is a tribute to the Uruguayan painter Joaquim Torres Garcia who, in the first half of the last century, postulated a new way of seeing the world without the conventional point of view used by Western culture.
• 1 oval painting shows the world map painted in reverse, as if the viewer of the work was inside the frame watching the viewers of the work;
• 1 oval painting, showing the map of the world “lying down”;
• 1 bilateral and circular painting (front and back) represents the real nature and beauty of the planet;
• 1 rectangular work made of wooden scraps, small computer boards and cut-out acupuncture straws, represent the visual beauty of smog;
• 3 rectangular works show the Earth cut out vertically, diagonally and horizontally, alluding to the environmental imbalance and the mismatch between the use of technology and integration with the planet in a sustainable way.
• 2 oval paintings present Africa and South America in evidence and the other continents in a faceted way;
o Africa and America are centered and realistically painted and the other continents are geometrically faceted. Thus, the central part is seen naturally and the sides are seen as if they were the faces of a diamond to represent the planet seen through a prism and as a small jewel immersed in the infinity of the universe.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORKSTHREE-DIMENSIONAL WORKS
• 1 modular object assembled in the form of a tower, made with computer keyboards;
o The base of the object is octagonal, the first module is hexagonal, the second module is pentagonal, the third module is quadratic, the fourth module is triangular, and the top is composed of a sphere .
• 3 “Books of Gaia”, whose pages are computer boards + objects, tell the process of human technological development and its relationship with the planet, Gaia.
• 2 objects, “The Doomsday Machine” and “The Vital Balance”, were made from the reuse of a meat grinder and a scale.
o The first features the Earth being ground in a meat grinder, and the second features the Earth on a scale while a man weighs the Sun and Moon. Both represent the objectification of nature and of universal philosophical values, transforming them into mere material values.
• 2 three-dimensional objects that present the Earth in the shape of an egg coupled to computer boards address the ecological issues that can affect the climate balance on the planet.
• 1 hexagon-shaped object represents e-waste dumped around the planet.
INSTALAÇÃO
• 1 installation composed by 1 circular and bilateral frame with the image of the planet painted on the front and back; scanned images; 38,000 electronic push buttons; contact acetate for keyboards; electronic time markers; plastic globe; abdominal subcutaneous syringe and a monitor case.
PERFORMANCE
• 1 performance in which the serious ecological situation of the planet due to human actions is addressed. The play lasts twenty minutes and counts with the participation of the group “Suspiro na Arte”. It presents the fictitious sale of the planet Earth by a super-powerful businessman who does not care about the social and economic injustices existing between countries.
In consonance with the paintings on the exhibition, the essential idea of the installation and the performance is to demonstrate the finitude of planet Earth and to remember that the weight of our actions puts the planet and our lives at risk.
Finally, it should be said that this series of works, in which I use the world map to express my current concerns emphasizes my "modus operandi", since in all my artistic production, I always try to unite the reason to emotion (base of my creative process) in order to create a work that makes use of traditional techniques incorporated into the elements of the current society to establish several metonymic relations that cause questions in the viewer. In this sense, the subjective language I use to express my feelings, yearnings, ideas and philosophical concepts enables the observer to draw their own conclusions on the subject covered in each series of work. The result is complicity or denial, it does not matter. Both form a type of involvement that refer to the essence of what I try to convey. Walter Miranda - August/2019
