Rodrigo Echeverri

Let us say that we are fascinated, in the first place, by the neatness of the geometric forms that, in full expansion, are displayed on the plane, taking possession of the space. The enjoyment of the purely geometrical figure, per se, free from any referent, appears to be the artist’s main motivation.
Many adduce minimalist influences in Echeverri’s work, and in fact, some connections with artists such as Donald Judd or Carl Andre can be glimpsed, at times. Two formal characteristics of Echeverri’s oeuvre, however, definitely establish a distance from minimalist asepsis. The first is derived from the nature of the material Echeverri employs − wood − whose qualities of naturalness and warmth contrast with the cold and industrial-like surfaces typical of the minimalist universe − with the exception of artists such as Eva Hesse. The second is derived from the sense of movement intrinsic in Echeverri’s work.
Echeverri’s point of departure is always a single central element which, in the manner of a stem cell, multiplies and expands in space, imparting to his work a singular organic quality. This characteristic is of special interest given the absent subject “portrayed” in Echeverri’s work, which becomes a sign and a symptom of one of the most pressing issues in present-day Colombian society.
Each parallelepiped in the work of this artist makes reference to the figure of the coffin, which becomes the effective allegory of death and violence. Depersonalized boxes, invariable identical, which are transformed into chronicles, documentary evidence, collective portrait of a problem that plagues not only the artist’s native country, Colombia, but also the entire Central American isthmus, even as far as Mexico.
Such is the central idea that animates the series Astilla en el ojo (Splinter in the Eye), which is also the title of his solo show now open to the public at Ideobox Art Space. Astilla en el ojo partakes of the notion of “trompe l’oeil” so dear to art history when it comes to creating a referential play between the illusory and the real space, the virtual and the pictorial space, and ultimately, the definitive liaison between the strained art circuit and the harsh social reality in which we are immersed on a daily basis.
The design of each image is computer-generated. Occasionally, the artist utilizes collage in a sort of veneering process, covering each of the geometric structures which, resisting the confinement of the picture, appear to redeem themselves from the two-dimensional space, abandoning its safety in order to inhabit the three-dimensional space.
It is precisely in this threatening transition from the merely artistic space to the real space that Echeverri’s work becomes menacing. Its structures projected on the spectator like straw in his/her eye, become hurtful: a sort of macabre domino that questions us and extends before our eyes like the terrible pandemic that plagues contemporary society.