12 metros de paisagem: Enrique Radigales E
Enrique Radigales presents a new research proposal exploring the boundaries and relationships between the analog and digital. He invites us on a journey where our gaze is restricted not only by format but also by the materialization of artworks through digital techniques.
"12 metros de landscape 06022012" (12 Meters of Landscape 06022012) consists of twelve meters of Hahnemühle paper, printed with pigment ink and hand-painted with acrylic, depicting an orography composed of images retrieved from a Google search for the word "landscape." The results—ranging from Baroque paintings, cartographies, contemporary architecture, mountains, rivers, forests, stereotyped photographs, and even images loosely connected to the concept of landscape—are unified by a single common pattern: the 256-color palette used in all operating systems.
Simultaneously, the work expands into the digital realm through its online counterpart, "12 metros de landscape HTML version", where random search combinations unfold dynamically. With each visit, the scale and selected details shift, generating a unique artwork for every user.
This entire process takes us on a journey that challenges and creates tension between the real and the unattainable. The infinite landscape becomes confined within the visual experience itself. Nature is physically and virtually transformed, distancing itself from the supposedly neutral technological image. In this context, the act of painting becomes a transgressive gesture.
In his "Landscape + Ruins" series, the artist continues his immersion into the digital landscape through intervention. Following computational patterns, Radigales applies acrylic paint over romantic landscapes, integrating gesture, texture, and, above all, slowness into the computational logic. This destabilizing element—a fusion of tradition and innovation—demands a slow and attentive gaze, in contrast to the overwhelming information overload of the internet.
Another recurring theme in Radigales' research is the obsolescence of technology—the speed at which devices become outdated—and the creation of an archaeology of these objects. His installation "Skyline" presents this duality through groups of five pieces of wood bark engraved with a laser-cut horizon line and the HTML code for "skyline", creating a low-fi representation of an otherwise high-tech image.
Finally, in his site-specific work "A janela de Rafael" (Rafael’s Window), the artist will create a wall intervention using tinted clay to reproduce the computer screen of Spanish philosopher and writer Rafael Argullol within the gallery space. This transposition highlights Radigales' interest in archiving and the standardization of reality through daily computer usage.
Argullol is known for his critical essays and his relationship with Romantic landscapes, particularly in his work "La atracción del abismo" (The Attraction of the Abyss, 1984, Ed. Destino, Barcelona). In this book, he explores the confrontation between nature and humankind, the resulting representations, and the desire, solitude, and fear it evokes—a central theme in Radigales' approach to landscape.
As part of a pre-digital generation, Argullol serves as an example of the transition between two eras. Radigales uses him as a reference to reflect on our coexistence with history and new technologies, bridging past generations, traditional practices, and our evolving digital structure.
