ART AND MEMORY IN DIALOGUE: TWO EXHIBITIONS AT LINSE

Retroespectro
Agustín González Goytía's exhibition is located at the intersection of various meanings of the term "spectrum." From the ghostly to the distribution of energies in different magnitudes, the artist's work draws on visual references that engage with the history of art and its perception in the present.

González Goytía views his creations as living organisms. Each piece is a cell that interacts with others, generating a mutating composition that expands within the exhibition space. The selected works range from 2014 to the present, bringing together diverse pieces that find unity through collage and montage. These procedures make visible the process of constructing artistic memory, where past and present overlap without hierarchy.

Materiality in Retroespectro is fundamental. The artist uses fabrics of various types, from gabardine to denim and linen, which serve as supports where painting coexists with stains, folds, and volumes. The arrangement of the works breaks with the traditional white cube structure, creating a constantly evolving environment where images reveal and conceal themselves in a choreography of shapes and textures.

From a critical standpoint, the exhibition also problematizes the construction of artistic memory in Argentina, highlighting the tension between established painting traditions and the possibilities for reinterpretation that emerge from contemporary experimentation. In this way, Retroespectro emerges as an exercise in the active reconstruction of visual and cultural history, where the retro and the spectral coexist in the same space.

Un amor y una promesa
Fabio Risso Pino, on the other hand, introduces us to an intimate and sensitive universe where art becomes a tool to process grief and reflect on life. From his studio in Punta Lara, the artist develops an aesthetic of making that combines tenderness, humor, and nostalgia, with a strong presence of popular and craft imagery.

Un amor y una promesa arises from an autobiographical experience related to the loss of a loved one. Through sculptures, paintings, collages, and objects, Risso Pino creates a visual narrative about love, fragility, and emotional memory. At the center of the room, two anthropomorphic sculptures made from wood, cane, and mannequin shoes represent cosmic figures: the sun and the moon. Their bodies exhibit a visible assembly, where the "seams" of the construction become part of the discourse, reflecting the fragility of the moment and the persistence of unity despite the wounds.

At the other end of the room, an embroidered collage depicts the same characters in an embrace, establishing a mirror game between diverse materials and techniques. This dialogue between the three-dimensional and the textile emphasizes the idea of memory as a network of threads that connect times and emotions.

The use of "bastard" materials such as yarns, buttons, cardboard, and colored glue reinforces the craft-like nature of Risso Pino's work. This choice is not innocent: by incorporating elements considered minor or precarious, the artist challenges the hierarchies between art and craft, between the "cultured" and the "popular." In this sense, Un amor y una promesa also becomes a reflection on artistic practice and its place in the contemporary scene.

Retroespectro and Un amor y una promesa will be open until March 15, 2025 at Linse, Bolivar 1753, San Telmo, Buenos Aires (Argentina).