Aproximación a un idilio natural – Exhibition in Rivadavia
A walk through the forest takes us past ferns, wildflowers, birds, ivy, more birds, lichens and ochre-coloured fungi. Here the boundaries between the animal, plant, and fungal kingdoms are blurred. The self-similarity reveals the cracks of a common ancestral past. They coexist in the same habitat. A walk through the forest to feel, to breathe and perhaps to spread the wings of perception in complete freedom.
You do not know where the flora ends and the fauna begins in this piece of forest. This forest is a unified whole. It is a living being that harbours infinite layers of life. These are realities grouped together by understanding. A living and animated organism.
The reef rises and unfolds its splendour in voluptuous flowers. It is also One and suffers from an ambiguity. This ambiguity claims it as the fins of Siamese bettas in dance. These bettas dance with other beings that inhabit the enormous reptile camouflaged among the fish. It is a balance of coexistence that does not discriminate. This coexistence transcends species or kingdoms separated thousands of years ago.
Orange anisodactyl ferns and green-leaved birds are embodied in a being. It seems never to have left the evolutionary line. It would have continued as animal and plant without division. But separation is inevitable, decay is the nature of life.
Manifestations of a leisurely existence
Lau Rodríguez’s work is a door to a more open perception. It invites us to slow down and observe. His images remind us of our common origin with all beings. The unfolding of details and the explosion of colours typical of Lau’s work invite us to slow down. They ask us to pause along the way. Practicing futility becomes a revolutionary and necessary act. To analyse. To stop. To go forward and come back. We lose time and then regain it with the gaze. We play by imagining other possible small habitats. We find new narratives. The beauty of the extraordinary is for those who deserve it. It is for those who move with curiosity and do not pay attention to the handles of time. The attentive gaze accompanies the silence of a generous listener. Together, we discover the ram hidden in the undergrowth. We also find the sheep in the olive wool. The merging of the kingdoms asks the observer: at what point did our paths diverge?
Humans strive to draw a line between themselves and everything else. They try to escape their mortality with synthetic intelligence and titanium artefacts. Yet, they are still animals and remain a bit of a plant. All is not lost. Ceremonia represents this great event. It symbolizes redemption and unreserved surrender. It is the image of those who know that their hour has come. They no longer resist. She feels serenity because she knows she is victorious. She helps her prey to surrender. She honors with flowers the last minutes of his presence in this cycle that is coming to an end. It is the culmination of the trophic chain. It represents a reverence for the teachings of nature. Predator and prey are in the same place, subject to its harsh laws. It is powerful, without regard to hierarchies. It treats each of their descendants with sweetness and equal harshness.
The images that the artist brings us show that if we stop and walk along the paths, we can observe with curiosity. We find in our surroundings the essence of existence. We must do this far from utilitarianism. Large doses of hope, of life that unfolds every day, sometimes in imperceptible ways.
Her work is a hymn to contemplation, to reclaiming leisure as an act of transcendence. She shows us the way to return to the light of the natural. It guides us to what already is without needing to be. She leads us to the immanence of life, inexorable and beautifully futile, at the whim of creation alone.
Río Martínez – Berlín, February 2025
