'Plant Imaginary' is a collection of sculptures of different dimensions whose shapes correspond to plants, roots or animals, such as mandrakes, insects, dolphin-birds, flowers of different types, peyotes, artichokes, nopales, avocados, trees, sheep-dogs, scorpion-worms, branches, even an Aladdin and a flying saucer, among others.
A group of artisans from Mexico (David Romano Cervantes, Ulises Figueroa, Hector Sastre, Alejandro Mejia Andrade, Benjamin Tellez Jiménez, Antonio Silva, Jose Manuel Angel Hernandez, Silvia Medina, Ruth Bastenier and David Amaro Alfaro) collaborated with Sofia Taboas and Eduardo Abaroa to mold and carve each of the pieces with materials as diverse as cement, onyx, wood, volcanic stone, ceramic, obsidian, metal and epoxy.
The artists conducted an investigation of fantastical plants in historical and literary documents of the world, from the Voynich manuscript (15th century) to contemporary images, to define the selection of these plants. The idea arose from the interest in uniting a diversity of fantastic imaginaries around plants, which are commonly considered astonishing, monstrous, humanoid and even alien, depending on their characteristics.
Rather than looking for their origin or creating a taxonomy, as is common in botany and zoology, in this case the approach is taken from the meanings that socially and historically have been attributed to these natural elements, or the associations that human beings establish from a wide variety of cosmogony and ideology. Thus, in 'Plant Imaginary' the generally scientific study of plants is carried out taking into that nature is also part of a cultural context from which it is assimilated and used.
If the interpretation that is made of plants, vegetables, and animals is taken from their properties, it is not unusual to recognize that mythological qualities are attributed to them in certain traditions. As in literature, for example, this piece addresses, as its name indicates, the plant representations that occur from the imaginary.
On the other hand, by translating a bibliographic file into a sculptural and therefore three-dimensional device, Taboas and Abaroa propose a contrast with the images of nature in video. For artists, currently the electronic image is the main form of representation of plants for the contemporary imagination.
AC, November 2020.
References:
With information from the artists
https://www.jornada.com.mx/2007/03/18/sem-angelica.html
'Plant Imaginary' is a collection of sculptures of different dimensions whose shapes correspond to plants, roots or animals, such as mandrakes, insects, dolphin-birds, flowers of different types, peyotes, artichokes, nopales, avocados, trees, sheep-dogs, scorpion-worms, branches, even an Aladdin and a flying saucer, among others.
