CRITIQUE AND CONCEPTUALISM OF CARTOGRAPHY IN KARLO ANDREI IBARRA
By Álvaro de Benito
A veces sueño que cae un meteorito sobre el mundo y lo construye (Sometimes I dream that a meteorite falls upon the world and builds it) is the proposal that Karlo Andrei Ibarra (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1982) presents at the Madrid venue of La Cometa. This exhibition, of enormous conceptualism, originates in the author’s fantasy and is transformed into a paradox: the reconstruction of a world that seems only possible through the impact of an asteroid.
For this occasion, Ibarra continues his interest in cartography and its symbology. Whether as material or as presence, the Puerto Rican unfolds a series of works where maps acquire meaning by fully stripping themselves of objectivity as instruments. Political and social significance gains the necessary relevance in these atlases and tools, which cease to be merely useful and devoid of value to become symbols of power, control, and economic exploitation.
Here we find a universal beginning in which the creative particles come from a previously shredded atlas, or a compass whose instrumental information has been erased, coexisting with military boots on a map of the Americas. Their enormous visual and symbolic force elevates the critical vision of colonialism and its imagery, linking with the artist’s subjectivity and his reality as a citizen of a politically ethereal entity.
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Karlo Andrei Ibarra. Brújula ciega, 2017 - 2018. Brújula intervenida, Ø 5 cm. Cortesía La Cometa
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Karlo Andrei Ibarra. Saqueo 2/3, 2021. Botas militares en concreto y mapa de las Américas, 31 x 25 cm. Cortesía La Cometa
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Karlo Andrei Ibarra. A Veces Sueño Que Cae Un Meteorito Sobre El Mundo Y Lo Construye, 2025. Atlas del mundo triturado sobre lienzo, Ø 101.6 cm. Cortesía La Cometa
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Karlo Andrei Ibarra. Prototaxis, 2013 - 2014. Pala de construcción calada, 115 x 24 x 12 cm. Cortesía La Cometa
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Karlo Andrei Ibarra. Usa, 2024. Fragmento de muro sobre matt board, 33 x 43 cm. Cortesía La Cometa
Thus, Ibarra conceives maps as elements in constant change, turning them into witnesses of the transformations and deteriorations produced by history. Perhaps the highest sublimation of this idea is the series of state silhouettes made from fragments of flaking material from buildings in Old San Juan, where memory and interpretation converge.
Karlo Andrei Ibarra. Sometimes I dream that a meteorite falls upon the world and builds it can be seen until November 5 at La Cometa’s Madrid venue, San Lorenzo, 11, Madrid (Spain).
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