Four young artists question representations of the cosmos through a conceptual stairway to the stars in the Galeria de Santa Fe.
Situated a few blocks from one of Bogotá’s most important historic spots, the Chorro de Quevedo, the Galeria de Santa Fe currently displays the work of four artists entitled “Cielo Bajo Tierra” in an exhibition open until June 19.
The gallery belongs to IDARTES (Instituto Distrital de las Artes de Bogota) and is currently housed in the La Catedral area of Candelaria. Created in 1981, the Santa Fe gallery used to be part of the spherical building of the Planetario and aims to promote the work of young artists of the city through a series of artistic grants and scholarships. It also hosts workshops and conferences related to the exhibitions in order to create dialogues between the artists and their audience.
As you enter the large door of the gallery, white walls followed by a path going up to the first exhibition room function as an invitation to wander around with your head in the clouds. The title of the exhibition, “Cielo Bajo Tierra”, reflects its purpose: to represent the sky from Earth, from our human perspective and with elements from our concrete reality. The artists use various techniques to explore this, including drawings, installations and sculptures.
Roofless, the first room, houses the works of David Peña and Camilo Parra. A guide is waiting in the corner, ready to help you on your journey and give you clues about the artists’ conception. Camilo Parra offers a “Disección celeste” working with satellite-based images and his exhibition is composed of two series, “In–finitos” and “A imagen y semejanza”. The artist invites us to reflect on the commonly accepted representations of the cosmos that are, he argues, constructed and broadcast by the scientific community. David Peña also uses installations and reflects on human conventions and commonly accepted discourses, starting with Pluto, the star which stopped being a planet in 2006.
The second- and much darker- room, displays the second part of the artistic installations of David Peña playing with images, lights and motion, and even inviting the Italian singer Rafaela Carrà. Also on show is “Excavar hasta llegar a las estrellas” by Lina Mazenett and David Quiroga, which terminates the journey. It displays two sculptures, inspired by a meteorite that fell to earth in Colombia in 1810 in Boyacá, a fragment of which you can see in Universidad Nacional. The sculptures use unusual material (butter and pitch) to represent with organic and man-made canvases an object coming from a timeless space.
The exhibition runs until the June 19 and provides an opportunity to escape from the hectic pace of city life into the relaxing world of the stars.
Galería Santa Fe
La Candelaria
Cra. 9.ª n.° 8-30. Bogotá.
Tel.: 379-5750 ext. 334.
Admission: free
Workshops and information: https://www.facebook.com/GerenciadeArtesPlasticasyVisuales
