Art Verité Gallery

Charles Baudelaire describes modernity as “the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the —eternal and the immovable.” And yet, in all existing transience, there remains genuine encounters of life, which are pure and unadulterated. In this exhibition, Alee Garibay contemplates the conditions of our contemporary life, where these fleeting moments become rare and almost impossible due to the increasing demands of “hyperconnection” and where our presence becomes suddenly divided between the physical and the virtual realm, requiring both our attention and response to the present. Here, Garibay’s colorful illustrations of biomorphic forms, which appear like butterflies, dominate the ensemble with scenes that show the transformation of places as they become a part of a memory.

In her works “Oyayi at Cosmos” and “Bisita” light and nature are introduced as the primary settings for the artist’s exploration —a reference to the location of Garibay’s studio inside a quiet farm. The paintings are direct and palpable to connect with the artist’s immediate environment where her feet would land every day. Thus, a place where the physicality of things such as bodies, materials, and paints are felt; a steady and secure site in her life where her art-making is situated. These works are in a dialogue with Garibay’s “Paru-Paro / Rorschach” series, which started in 2014. Here, we find images that remind us of Rorschach cards used in psychological tests where subjects are asked to identify the images formed by inkblots, thus, allowing psychologists to analyze and identify a person’s personality, characteristics, and emotional functioning. Hence, in Garibay’s works we find the calculated improvisation in producing the monoprints; how these become tangible in the formationofcolorsandshapes. Nothingcrossesboundaries,andyet,theallusiontothe sudden and transitory lives on.

The world we currently live in evaluates everything by the rate of speed and efficiency; there are not enough moments to keep quiet, pause, and be still. In a time when we are forced to participate and engage at all times, there’s a ball of exhaustion looming above our heads. Thus, Garibay demands us to become more attentive as we continue to navigate this loud and chaotic period. When we take a moment to wait and give ourselves a space to breathe, then, we’ll eventually notice these sincere and truthful moments as they flicker around us. They’ll flutter rapidly, but we’ll be able to catch most.