The forests in the Colombian Cordilleras are frighteningly cut down, everywhere bare slopes, everywhere erosion. All the more enjoyable, if you can visit small paradises. The mini island “isla corota” is such a pearl that lies in the laguna de la cocha. A natural paradise and protected as a national park. But why in the devil’s name they had build a large church on this place? Were nature conservation funds to obstruct?
We overtook Juan Manuel after we had driven uphill for quite some time. And since we wanted to take a break anyway, I waved him to our place and we offered hin coffee and chocolate.
He is a venazuelan guy, left his country some time ago and lives by juggling, clowning and unicycling. He has welded his bike by himself using a lot of iron. His bike weights about 130 kg together with der rider, but he brings hardly anything on the scales. Downhill it is getting fast, sometimes too fast, as his missing incisors prove. Juan Manuel is a happy guy, he always was laughing when he told his stories, then he got on his bike again and kept pedaling uphill.
The tatacoa desert is one of the driest and hottest countrysides in colombia. But we hadn´t expected this:
In the museum “Antioquia” in Medellin, we discovered a picture that captivated us immediately. The shield next to the artists work mentioned “tomás ochoa / equador”. Great, we will also travel to this country, so I wrote him an e-mail. He answered right away and told, he would now live in medellin. Some days later we met him personally in his house and what we got to see made us speechless ….
small note: the pictures are made by using gun powder.
Felipe gave us a great guided tour through the grounds and the workflow of the Hacienda Guayabal. We learned a lot how to grow and and how to brew coffee and how much work is necessary to get an aromatic premium colombian arabica. We highly recommend this place to do a coffee tour. © b.g
Statement by anibal vallejo:
In the last few years, my work has focused in the frontiers of painting and its possibilities.
Beyond the conventional and formal techniques, I seek new ways that integrates to the process in a reflection around the pictorial, to what is known as painting. Painting as a discipline that goes beyond preparing a canvas or a paper to apply pigments, but expands transcending the traditional limits.
In my most recent job, I focus on the relationship between the painting and the space that contains it which leads me to assume my paintings and drawings as objects, which opens a new perspective towards the three-dimensional, converting into sculptural pieces what used to be paintings but keep preserving pictorial parts as vestiges of what used to be two dimensional elements. In the body of the artwork where geometry is of prime importance, an exploration of space occurs from the compositions that are based on the shape and the color. Then it’s no longer about presenting pieces placed in a harmonic way in a place but in how they relate with the site affecting or altering the environment that receives them according to their distribution, installation or even illumination questioning the limits of the technique.
The artwork stands out for its economy of means and minimalist appearance.
