Mapa de moho [“Map of the Mold”] is Javier Arce’s first solo exhibition at the Galeria Carles Taché. Through formats ranging from drawings to objects or installations, Arce explores the telluric condition that connects his art practice with an ultralocal sense of belonging: the mountains of Pas in his native Cantabria and, specifically, the house the artist has been building for himself in the midst of nature over the course of several years.
On the basis of Elizabeth Bishop’s poem Song for the Rainy Season, Arce establishes a conceptual simile between the house Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo (Bishop’s partner) built in the Brazilian jungle in the 1950s and his own house in the mountains of Cantabria. All in all, two examples of social isolation that understand a natural habitat –the jungle, in the first case; the woods, in the latter– as a sort of emotional correspondence capable of intensifying the experience. Text: David Armengol