the radiance of paradise: albarrán cabrera
The radiance of Paradise
Alternates with deep, dreadful night
- Goethe, from Faust
The gallery is pleased to open our Fall program with an immersive exhibition featuring new color, platinum-palladium and metallic cyanotype prints by the celebrated Spanish artist-duo Angel Albarrán and Anna Cabrera.
A public opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 11th from 4-7pm.
Viewing the world through philosophical eyes, the work of Albarrán Cabrera explores ideas of memory, time, and cosmology, mirrored through a diverse array of printmaking techniques and art historical references. Whereas earlier bodies of work framed these inquiries through the perspective of humans, the duo’s most recent portfolio “Nyx” centers the Earth itself as protagonist; “The only home we’ve ever known” as Sagan stated. Their new photographs propose geologic and organic structures as a form of remembering. An ever-balancing system of energy that retains detailed records of explosive shifts and incomprehensibly tedious transformations.
As before, form follows function in Albarrán Cabrera’s new work. Using noble metals of platinum, palladium, and gold in the printmaking process for much of the portfolio further grounds the work in an elemental and terrestrial context, while avoiding an overt display of metallic grandeur. Instead, the subtle scale and materiality of their prints become quiet windows of contemplation on an infinitely complex ecosystem. Their vivid color works, glowing from within by a core of gold leaf, celebrate a sublime life-force emanating from the natural world. A persistent visual paradox surprises the viewer in many of the nearly thirty prints on display. Landscapes that at first glance seem consistent with the laws of physics, upon further consideration, reveal areas of doubt that through their alchemical processes are transformed into wonder. The viewer is left to consider the limits of our own sensory data and how that may shape our map of the world around us.
Angel Albarrán (b.1969, Barcelona) and Anna Cabrera (b. 1969, Sevilla) have worked collaboratively as art photographers since 1996. Albarrán Cabrera's photographs have been exhibited in galleries and photo fairs in Spain, Japan, Switzerland, USA, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Lebanon, and Italy. Private collections and institutions that house their photographs include Hermès, Goetz Collection, The German Bundestag's Art Collection, Banco de Santander, and De Nederlandsche Bank among others.
