Carpe diem! All humanity should celebrate life daily, as
Violeta Parra did with her song. This mysterious impulse, thanks to which we exist. A silent
flash that is evident before our eyes every moment, yet we give it the
slightest importance, so commonplace is its presence.
“Vida” is a project by the Reus-born artist Jordi Abelló, which has come to light in the same
way a seed bursts forth, in a celebrated exhibition at the Sanfeliu Cultural Centre
in L’Hospitalet. Works with scientific approaches that we should place at a
stage much earlier than prehistory, but which we can only see and understand now.
The artist believes that if art consists of giving life, it was necessary to investigate life, as if
he had a microscope installed at the tip of his brush.
Drawings, captured images, and complementary video work, distributed in twenty-
one chapters, ranging from the Big Bang to the atomic bomb explosion, and containing the
extraordinary mystery of life in the maternal womb. A kaleidoscope, according to the artist a
stained-glass window, influenced by those made by Marc Chagall in Zurich, as well as by the last house
built by Le Corbusier. All of us contain elements, like architecture,
that lead us to believe that all forms of life on Earth
possibly share a common link. A surprising experience in the trajectory of
this artist, always introspective, at times abysmal, always interesting, and not always
pleasant. A brave artist, crowned by the gods of Olympus. His drawings bring us closer to the
most refined surrealism, showing us our inner selves, without considering
how horrifying this vision can be to our eyes, as if this dissection were
publicly displayed in the window of an orthopedic supply store. Computer connectors
inserted into circuits, humanized gadget brochures by the artist himself,
connections that relate to a reality more than figurative and correspond to
our capacity for communication. A harsh vision of an approaching future, ever
closer to the machine world of the film “Metropolis”. All this in search of the origin of
life, perhaps it was stardust, of solar or planetary origin, a mystery
transported by primitive auroras borealis that reached Earth, before time
was Time. And water, this precious element, which, although we may not be
aware of it, is the same as it was in prehistory, and before. Not one drop more, not one
drop less. We are water, and water shows us how powerful nature’s recycling is.
Life.
The fascinating beauty of galaxies, or that of microscopic visions that
allow us to see the always intriguing world of beings invisible to the human eye. Worlds
disturbing that are in our world and that Jordi Abelló shows us in manipulated drawings and
frames. Life that is daily around us, in the emotional outburst of
teenagers who gather at Passeig de Sant Antoni, or that of skaters, the
“Skatboys”, who passionately perform figures and tumbles, under my balcony. Life, in the
trees from which starlings take flight, forming a cloud like bobbin lace against the blue
Mediterranean sky.
Beauty and life, yes, an insolent and at times dark beauty, and life, life!, beats, seeds
that burst, almost invisible insects, deep investigation around a mystery.
We broke molds,
chasing shining stars
And we drew in the air
The word ART.
