Becoming

One doesn’t know exactly when a work of art begins neither does one know when it ends.

I agree, Aydasara, one only knows when one has physically captured an image from their unstoppable evolution, that flux; what in Spanish can be referred to as ‘devenir’.

Yes, Ruben, there is something random during the process of executing an artwork. A resulting image doesn’t necessarily exist in the mind previously to the act of creating.

Indeed. This being more evident in certain creative processes than in others. Yet in reality one is inside a sea of images, signs and symbols, which in a certain way are already on the surface that one is going to virtually trace. Each picture being part of a registry, a composition in time. Of all the possibilities, one selects, synthetizes and “crystallizes”. A canvas is never empty, a paper is never blank.

And, what did you do with the five handmade papers I made, Ruben?

Oh, I found their texture very suggestive, Aydasara, an irregular one without exact patterns! The papers’ texture reminded me the similar texture resulting from the mixing activity on the surface of my palette. I could have achieved this effect with some acrylic mediums yet the textured handmade papers already had these qualities. Over this small chaos of paint stains I began exploring and recognizing many possible forms and shapes, proceeding to select and emptying the surface of those that I didn’t want. To capture each image I defined the background using a solid color rendering a silhouette; always an uncertain one.

Thus you believe that it is the incertitude of the captured symbol which reduces the possibility of an image being decreased to a sentence?

Yes, ambiguity opening up a realm of constant flux in ways of perceiving and interpreting a resulting picture, eluding a fixation in time.

One doesn’t know exactly when a work of art begins neither does one know when it ends.

Aydasara Ortega is a Papermaker currently based in New York. Her artwork celebrates the symbolism and the inherent beauty of paper. As the lives and tales of various cultures have been carried on paper through history, she sends the papers she makes by hand to their destinies hoping they will inspire those “they touch” to share through them their own personal journey residing within. She teaches Papermaking through Toque de Queda.

Ruben Rivera Matos is a Visual Artist originally from Puerto Rico and now residing in New York. His range of works include drawing, painting, printmaking, and animation. www.rubenart.com

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