Tinta Viva. Federico Cartas in conversation with Editor in Chief Alice Zucca
Tinta Viva
Federico Cartas
January 26th – February 25th 2024
Alchemy Gallery, NYC
Curated by Georgina Pounds
Tinta Viva presents a collection of explosive paper works by Mexican artist Federico Cartas (b.1988 Mexico) that strive for perfection in an uncontrolled physical world. Exhibited for the first time in New York. The works, as Cartas explains “requires the integration of physics, chemistry, and trial & error to create “the perfect accident”. Opening Friday January 26, 2024, at Alchemy Gallery, Tinta Viva will be accompanied by a captivating short film, exhibited as editioned video works, by renowned creative Amanda Demme, and produced by Santiago García Galvan, documenting the artist’s process from the Ajusco Volcano. Amanda is making unique narratives of artist processes, and this is the first insight to a longer series that will be released later in 2024. Its Amanda Demme’s interpretation of the artist process.
Cartas works with an abundance of unexpected materials including his own blood, Chinese ink, explosive powder, LSD and lava dust from the Etna Volcano in Sicily. Like Arte Povera artists Jannis Kounellis and Mario Merz who employed varying materials, including wax, tar, wire, and neon tubes – and also Yves Klein who referred to his iconic Klein Blue as “leftovers from the creative process” – the idea of production and result of the activity becomes Cartas’ artwork. Symbolically, Cartas mixes his own DNA to present his past and the physical body; LSD to present the uncontrollable effects on humans; and lava dust to represent the ground and eruptions of the Earth – despite the fact these mediums are not supposed to be mixed. Yet, visually, their combination and subsequent separation in the explosion create interesting textures and patterns when they meet the paper. Driven by the white ink on the black paper, and the black ink on the white paper, Cartas pictures uncontrolled formations of larger rocks, dispersed dots and scatterings of dappled pattern. On a micro-scale, formations of new rocks on the paper surface are visible. On a macro-scale, it’s numerous galaxies and clusters of stars.
The way the materials are dispersed onto the paper is a process of phenomenons derived from the artist’s home-made technique set up within his studio located on The Bowery, New York. “To understand the variables we must refer to the energy and power of the explosion in the moment, considering the wind, the temperature of the wind and the aerodynamics of the wind. The explosions in New York are different to those in Mexico City; in Mexico they are different because there is a higher altitude and as a result less oxygen”. As a result of the explosion, the centrifuge force and aerodynamics are disrupted because the explosion and chemicals are separated. The titles of each work speak to the importance of physics, aeronautics and astronomy. These include Galaxia centrifuga, Horizontal centro con alien, Volcano du Bloody Lava, and Tornado V.2. Both individual artworks and the series as a whole show undulating explosions flowing between diptychs and triptychs – further accentuating this idea of uncontrolled movement.
Federico Cartas also opens his studio in Mexico City from February 6 – 11 to correspond with ZsONAMACO 2024.
AZ: Congratulations on your show opening this week in New York. I wanted to begin with your reference to Arte povera. Arte povera was first initiated by the Italian art critic and curator Germano Celant, in 1967 and was a new way of describing methods of creating without the restraints of artistic traditional practices and materials. His gallery texts and curated exhibitions provided a collective identity for artists across Italy including Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali and Michelangelo Pistoletto. I’m reminded of the Arte Povera movements in Tinta Viva mostly because the use of the earth, the ground, of the lava as a material. You mention that the works on paper use lava from the Etna Volcano in Sicily, and the video documents the lava from the Ajusco Volcano in Mexico. I find this fascinating and wonder if you could tell me about the reason you decide to include lava in this body of work.
FC: Lava, magma, molten rock, molten liquid, molten lava flow, temperatures of over a thousand degrees centigrade, high viscosity, the energy of the earth, the overwhelming power of the earth, the lack of human control, the strength of nature, however you name it, the power of a volcano is the reason I include lava in my work. These are the first two series of Tinta Viva that use lava, the series shown in Bogota did not, and although there are different types of lava, including ferromagnesian, dark in color, and others such as basalt or Pahoehoe lava, the location of the volcano is just determined on my whereabouts, rather than a specific reason. I was in Etna this summer travelling across Sicily, and my studio is in Mexico City (and New York – but there are no volcanoes there). My next series of work also looks at meteorites. I’m interested in the various weight differences of the meteorites from space and of the lava from the earth; we know that lava initiates as a heavy liquid and turns into a light porous rock when it dries.
AZ: I am further drawn towards your use of materiality, not only the volcanic rocks, inks, LSD, but also of your own blood, Blood A+. Using blood has been seen in the works of Marc Quinn, Tracey Emin, Kiki Smith to name a few, and having seen images your studio, I know that there is a dedicated and profound build up of preparation to execute your work in the way that you do, including the use of blood. I wonder if you could comment on the reason you include your own DNA in your artworks as well as how you prepare for this and how Blood A+ is significant in your practice.
FC: The answer of why is simple but personal; I work with my own blood in response to an accident that took place nearly two decades ago. The initial idea of Tinta Viva, was to give back the amount of blood within a human body in response to this accident, and only once this is done, is the series of Tinta Viva complete; much like an ofrenda. The amount of blood in the average human body is 6 liters…In the short film that Amanda Demme has created, and that was produced by Santiago Garcia Galvan, Amanda manages to tell a glimpse of the narrative, of the story, and therefore the reason I created this series which uses my own DNA. It wasn’t just the car crash but the many years after that absorbed by energy, my sadness and gave me a deeper reason to make the series. The preparation is complex, and something that has taken years to perfect. I work with multiple nurses, I’ve exasperated the number of ways in which blood can be used and preserved and I’ve studied blood types and variations, concluding that Blood A+ dries differently to other blood types, mostly in the colouring but also the speed it dries.
AZ: How does science play a role in Tinta Viva. You mention that the explosions vary between location and that you are interested in the idea of a controlled experiment. How easily are we able to control the explosions, and what are some of the variables that may affect such explosions? How do you resonate with man-made explosions in a time where there is a heartbreaking amount of violence and war, and how does your work define not only the natural explosions of a volcano, but also the human act of destruction. Do you think your work is summarised by comparing nature and human activity.
Nature will always be more powerful. I like to think that I am working with science, referring more to the extraordinary developments that Scientists are making in technology, in medicine, in aerodynamics, in Space. The controlled experiment is defined by altitude, by wind, by pressure, by the amount of explosive powder. I have always been interested in aeronautics and physics. Human activity and forces of physics has nothing to do with violence and war. I was exposed as a child to fireworks, explosives, I enjoyed playing with these to learn about physics; I used to make cans of tuna fly. In the presentation of Tinta Viva, the explosion and force of the wind is the only power I could find that separates the textures after the explosion of the balloon. I wanted to create the physical force that enables the ink to fly and disattach from the other elements. There is nothing to do with violence and war. It is a release, if anything it removes stress and provides relief. For me it’s like watching a classical concert, when the bass drum enters in a symphony and the sound resonates.
AZ: Your work with the U.N.A.M Universities and laboratories in Mexico City have created new technologies that explore ways in which we hear. Continuing on from your comment on sound resonating within a concert hall, when did you become interested in sound technology and how will you use these spaces? Are you working with architects to currently integrate these sculptures into cities?
Since 2021 I have been developing my career as a contemporary visual artist and working in collaboration with Jorge Galaviz Mexican architect, expert in acoustic architecture and professor at UNAM, with new acoustic sculptures that push the limits of how we listen to sound responding to sound quality, sound installation and enhancing the human hearing experience. From 2001-2021 I worked as a Creative Director, Art Director and Production Manager and as a result I have an extensive knowledge in film and art, but my strength was in sound and music production. Therefore I want to integrate how we listen to sound within my work. The new sound sculptures use a membrane that absorbs various frequencies. The large scale sculptures can be placed within existing architecture and will change the way that we hear in restaurants, bars, and recording studios. At the moment I am in discussion with Ryan Urban to house a new restaurant and bar in one of these pods on Bowery in New York City. I am very thankful to Jorge and his team who as experts have enabled this development in sound technology.
AZ: What other series are you working on and what are your future plans? I understand you will open your studio in Mexico City over Zona Maco 2024, a time when many museums and institutions are now visiting the city.
As I briefly mentioned, I have an ongoing series that looks into the metals and materials of meteorites fallen in the Northern Mexican deserts. I hope to work further on this series of work that looks closer into the education of meteoritics and into the metals that are found within these ‘unidintified fallen objects’. Yes, I will open my studio in Mexico City in correspondence with my exhibition at Alchemy Gallery who have a booth at the fair, and with the opening of Zona Maco, I hope you can come!
About Federico Cartas:
Federico Cartas (México, b.1988) uses physics, technology and invention to create complex systems that explore sound, movement and light. With a profound interest in science, cinematography and music, he incorporates all three into his artistic practise. Often working with large scale sculpture and installation, he also exhibits smaller studies, drawings, painting and sculpture that are a bi-product of his kinetic interventions. Working in collaboration with Jorge Galaviz, a professor at the U.N.A.M in Mexico City, his recent acoustic sculptures push the limits of how we listen to sound responding to his interest in sound quality, sound installation and enhancing the human hearing experience. His Meteorite series finds meteorites fallen in the deserts of the Americas: he positions these within high strength lasers to represent the tensions and movement, something also seen in his works on paper. Cartas works between New York and Mexico City.
About Alchemy Gallery:
Alchemy is a process of creation and transformation; the evolution of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Alchemy Gallery’s mission is to celebrate that process artistically, by fostering the development of artists at all levels, in all mediums, and championing their art with the right audiences of quality collectors.
