A través del espejo

Through the Mirror

Carlos-Blas Galindo

San Luis Potosí, S. L. P.

I am the author of the text included in the triptych that was published for Angelica Carrasco’s first solo show en 1993, at the José Maria Velasco Gallery which belongs to the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA). It was wise of her to choose this gallery as the first place to show her work individually. Although by then our beloved Velasco gallery was not considered as the first stepping stone into the institutional government artistic culture distribution system in Mexico City and the rest of the country, or even a necessary one, exhibiting there was still a kind of ritual initiation for plastic, visual and conceptual artists, “The Velasco” still maintains or possibly has increased this aura today. As I wrote then, Carrasco was going through a defining stage in her career where she had to choose between working fulltime as a graphic artist or simultaneously in drawing and painting.

In the 18 years that have gone by since I met this artist and came in touch with her work, both have undergone fundamental changes. I don’t refer only to the “normal” ones derived from the accumulation of practice and the knowledge resultant from experience. I refer to the absolute consolidation of a career and to the individual language that Angelica Carrasco has developed, which is evident in Through the mirror. She opted for working fulltime as a graphic artist and this accelerated her artistic maturity in a field in which she has also innovated both in stylistic aspects –as the true artist she is-, as well as in technical ones, and continues doing so. If the latter is required of anyone professionally dedicated to the creation of art, in terms of the former, Carrasco has already assured herself a place both in the history of art in Mexico as well as abroad (remember she is a member of the California Society of Printmakers in the us, and as such regularly exhibits in that country and in European nations.

 I have had the privilege of following this artist’s career closely. And I have done it out of my own interest but also making the most of different circumstances, such as complying with diverse invitations I’ve had. An example is writing for the catalogue of Through the mirror. Thus, in 1994 I was a juror (with Emilio Payán, Miriam Kaiser, Yolanda Hernández and Carlos Aguirre) at the XIV Encuentro Nacional de Arte Joven art competition in the city of Aguascalientes. Carrasco was granted an award for her famous large format (90 x 179 cms.) etching on iron slab Los perros rabiosos (The rabid dogs) and her piece is now part of their collection. In this work of art she hand applied liquid etching varnish, sprayed aquatint lacquer and used nitric acid as mordant. It was a work of enormous expressivity, based on dynamic formal elements. And in 1999 I was also a juror (with Octavio Vázquez, Adolfo Mexiac, Juan Manuel de la Rosa and Javier Cruz) at the II Bienal Nacional de Pintura y Grabado Alfredo Zalce competition in the city of Morelia. On that occasion she obtained the only engraving award for her 70 by 90 centimeter etching with Parvada (Flock), based on the same technique.

Outstanding among the invitations I have received from this artist and which I have gladly accepted as I consider them an honor, is the one she extended to me 1999 to participate as a member of the panel of examiners for her professional exam at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, which is an art school belonging to the INBA. I accepted because Carrasco is an artist who values her education and is constantly up to date on the advances in her field. This is easily understandable because, along with her work as an artist –which includes promoting her work and cultivating new audiences- she is a successful teacher, a vocation she is thoroughly committed to. I write these words during a week-long stay in the city of San Luis Potosí where Angelica Carrasco will arrive in a few days to teach the course “Graphic analysis for production”, which she designed with the purpose of sharing with her students the fundamental aspects of her artistic and professional credo. There is so much interest in this series of sessions that it is fully booked. I have had to intercede with my friends at the Instituto Potosino de Bellas Artes –the institution where the course will be heldto request, on behalf of a group of young art critics, to accept more students in the course as long as this does not deter the teaching-learning process. Both they and the teacher have immediately accepted.

Just as I predicted 18 years ago, Carrasco has consolidated her individual language. And she has done so through daily innovation. She is, in a few words, one of the few persons worldwide who continues contributing creatively to abstract neo-expressionism. Her language is characterized by the use of ample strokes of different widths and saturations, with a strong dynamism. She drips and splashes proficiently. Her works show qualities and effects that range from a vigor close to violence, to the most moving delicacy. Her grays, leaning towards cold hues, are endless. Apart from its use as a support, she integrates the whiteness of the paper as another element. In order to appreciate her works, with their rhythmical solutions and the interaction of their formal elements as well as the depth of their details and subtleties, they must be observed from a long and middle distance as well as up close.

Her abstract neo-expressionism or neo-expressionist abstraction is a language which is completely foreign from semi-abstraction. In other words, from what is abstracting or semi-figurative. However, and regardless of its stylistic rigor, among certain sectors of her audience Carrasco likes to provoke the sensation of “discovering” or “creating” figurative elements in her etchings. She reinforces this through the titles of her series, such as is the case of Acantarillas (Manhole covers) from a 1987 and Diálogos de claro a oscuro, (Dialogues from light to darkness) from 1992. And, in this century Apuntes (Sketches), Paisajes (Landscapes) and De las cenizas al viento (From Ashes to Wind), all three from 2009, as well as La Samotracia y sus sueños (The Samothrace and her dreams) and Amo aquellos párpados que cubren tu alma (I love the eyelids that cover your soul), both from 2010. As a person who knows that accentuated expressivity captures the attention of both specialized and amateur audiences, but also as someone who is aware of the expressive force of her language, of the penetrating eloquence of her images, Carrasco immediately captures her public’s attention and holds it for a long time.

I have published comments on two of Angelica Carrasco’s numerous exhibitions. And I have done it, of course, in my newspaper: El Financiero. I wrote in 1997 when she had her exhibition Caras vemos, consanguíneos no sabemos (We see faces, not relations) at the Salón de la Plástica Mexican and in 2003 on Itinerario gráfico (Graphic Itinerary) at the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público gallery, both in Mexico City. Fourteen years ago I stated that this artist’s work had aesthetic elements capable of making the public shudder, be stirred and even intimidated.

I find her current works provoke impact, shock, surprise and disbelief and many of her prints even cause commotion on the viewer. Fourteen years ago I stated that this artist based the expressivity of her work on resources such as dramaticity, irony or the terrorific. I consider the production that integrates Through the mirror still resorts to the dramatic and the ironic, although this second category has softened. And, on the other hand, today her work leans towards the pleasant, the novel and the playful. Simultaneously it also displays a presence of frailty and roughness which Carrasco combines with extreme ability.

Fourteen years ago I underlined the violence in Carrasco’s works. Today, as I have entioned, I discover a vigor that resembles violence along with a subtlety which is very moving. In 1997 I found that the artistic attitudes evident in this artist’s work were rebelliousness, vitality and also violence. Everything seems to indicate that, fortunately for her and for us as her audiences, she will never abandon her artistic rebelliousness. I also find that today, although her etchings are less violent, their vitality has increased in inverse proportion and today this is part of her style. Over the past fourteen years, the artist’s skill, determination and boldness I wrote about then, have increased. What’s more, in terms of her technical contributions, her skill has turned into full-fledged virtuosity. I will only write about this aspect of her work once she has published the manual or manuals on these procedures. For now, suffice it to say that Angelica Carrasco is a pioneer in our country in the use of non toxic etching procedures and that her original research in this area constitutes an undeniable contribution to graphic art at a world level. Today, in 2011, A través del espejo allows us to enjoy Angelica Carrasco’s full professional and individual language consolidation. Lastly, the title of this exhibition alludes to Through the Looking-Glass, and to What Alice Found There (1871) by Lewis Carroll, as well as to the fact that in etching, every print is the inverted image of its matrix. It’s like an image reflected in a mirror.