Antropoceno

Antropoceno-na adj.

From Eng. anthropocene, in turn from anthropo- 'human' and Gr.καινός kainós 'new, recent'.

Proposed current geological epoch, characterized by the significant and global impact of human activities on the Earth's ecosystems, atmosphere and geology. Commonly defined as starting in 1950 (the "Great Acceleration"), marked by exponential growth of population and resource consumption. Succeeds the Holocene and leaves an irreversible imprint on the planet.

The five paintings that make up Carlos Sagrera's first exhibition at the Galería Rafael Pérez Hernando represent rooms in a Madrid apartment located in a functionalist symmetrical building designed in 1964 using concrete, metal and glass as visible expressive elements that made considerable impact on the look of the street. A striking feature consists of screens of horizontal metal slats, running around the façades at each floor level.

Since it is a busy traffic street, the dust, noise and vehicle fumes create a problem, which has been mitigated by giving these aluminium slats a profile that hides the dust whenever they are cleaned and breaks up the propagation of sound, made from a material -anodized aluminium- that lasts well and does not absorb or become discoloured by the gases emitted from car engines, diesel-based heating, etc.”

(Daniel Rincón de la Vega and Luis Tejedor Fernández; "Intimidad y vanguardia. La obra de Juan de Haro", in Pioneros de la arquitectura moderna española: vigencia de su pensamiento y obra, 2015)

I work with the pictorial representation of interior spaces in which I have lived, belonging to family and friends. Experiences in these places are exposed to the "weather of everyday life" and build up in layers as time passes. The space, considered from its measurements, decorative patterns, spatial proportions, colours, furniture... defines its inhabitants and their time; their private habits and the decorative tastes both inherited and affected by their era show different social, political and geographical contexts.

Since these are spaces I already know and have been able to access frequently and closely, I have kept photographing them at different moments and years. Based on this graphic documentation and helped by personal memory (objective and subjective), I represent these "container" places. The different situations or arrangements that have come to pass there are superimposed like layers, generating coatings and marks, inhabiting and reflecting the passage of time and ways of living in a given period.