AN ACT OF POETIC IMAGINATION ARCHITECTURE. GEOMETRY. ABSTRACTION. POETRY
Motherwell said that abstract art is an art
friend of Martirene: "... a ruin loses its
stripped down to the bare to show only the
accessories to keep the fundamental."
fundamental. It is curious how, from that angle, abstract photography is the most purely objective
Martirene Alcántara has a romance, in fact
and figurative, eliminating the superfluous
various simultaneously, but one of the strongest
to create an object sustained by the pure
is with architecture, and to photograph it is her
form. One cannot look at abstract art without
form of courtship. Her romance, combined with
thinking. It is probably the art expression that
great passion, does not diminish in intensity with
requires the most intellectual exercise.
time, only changes its manifestations. In this Act of Poetic Imagination, she traverses spaces and
The structures that shelter us are initially
takes from each one essential element to create
functional, strictly a haven from elements and
her astounding images. Gradually, she has been
threats. But we believe that is not enough,
stripping the structures to stay only with the
we make spaces an extension of ourselves
fundamental. Her constructions are connected
and then, as Laurence Durrell suggests, those
to the imagination, they begin from the concrete,
spaces form us as social and urban entities.
suggesting new forms and readings to propose
Where there is matter there is geometry, said
a new journey in the imagination of the viewer.
Johannes Kepler. In architecture, materials and
Martirene's traveling vocation certainly influences
geometry are added to light and time, to evolve
her artwork to create imaginary architecture
in a language that speaks of stories, or simply
from structural elements she picks up here and
presents a place to gaze and evoke or trigger
there, elements of stone, or elements of light; no
ideas that suggest more than what we see. In
matter where they come from, what matters is
that process, the work is "ruining itself," in the
what they become.
sense of becoming gradually a ruin, as said by Carlos Mijares, the great architect and close
— Ricardo J. Garibay
FIRST ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Labyrinthos IV, Giclée, 11 3/4 x 15 3/4"; Demeter, Piezography, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; Divergence, Giclée, 23 5/8 x 15 3/4"; Ikarus, Piezography 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; SECOND ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Cytherea, Piezography, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; Owen’s Obsession, Giclée, 15 3/4 x 23 5/8"; Intueri, Piezography, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; Cyclops, Giclée, 23 5/8 x 15 3/4"; THIRD ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Phantasos, Piezography, 19 5/8 x 27 1/2"; Pegasus, Giclée, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; Conversation (MoMA Permanent Collection), Giclée, 27 1/2 x 46 1/2"; Eos, Piezography, 15 3/4 x 15 3/4"; FOURTH ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Lycurgus’ Legacy, Piezography, 15 3/4 x 23 5/8"; Satiros, Piezography, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; Eukleides (MoMA Permanent Collection) Piezography, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; Minotauro, Piezography, 19 5/8 x 27 1/2"; FIFTH ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Astraeus, Piezography, 15 3/4 x 15 3/4"; Asteria, Piezography, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8"; Theseus’ Way, Giclée, 15 3/4 x 23 5/8"; Pigeonnier, Piezography, 23 5/8 x 15 3/4"(all dimensions are unframed)