Nela Ochoa
Sextante, Bogota
Several sculptural structures made of metal, plastic or textiles constitute this Venezuelan artist’s exhibition at Sextante Gallery, entitled “Gen y Figura”. Ochoa, whose interest in the human body was the main axis of her work of the 1980s, exhibits on this occasion some pieces that focus on the relationship between the DNA in organic matter and the nature of art.
The viewer can appreciate in the photograph of her work Ex–Tagua, that her main concern is to show the genetic sequence of the Tagua, the seed of the Phytelephas seemannii palm, which grows in the tropical rainforests, principally in Colombia, Panama and Ecuador, and which is currently an endangered species. Executed in iron and copper, it stands apart from the rest not only on account of its shape and color, but also of its materials: each of Ochoa’s pieces is endowed with the particularity of encoding a discourse similar to that of DNA.
This need to show the DNA of organic matter contains its own paradox, which is precisely where Nela Ochoa’s discourse is articulated, for the curiosity of human beings has led to the discovery of their own genetic code, and the possibility of its alteration has generated a strong clash over ethics, which only the nature of art can solve via its infinite equations.
