"The body of work I propose is the result of an evolution over several years of exploring the representation of the built environment. Initially, I developed a narrative around specific architectural landmarks, relating them to events of destruction, construction, and reconstruction. Gradually, this narrative of specific events faded to give way to a reflection on the temporality of spaces. I explore an abstract language that intersects with the geometric tradition of Russian constructivism and Latin American concretism. I take a critical distance from the conception of the pieces, moving away from purely rational thought where the pieces would be predetermined. On the contrary, the execution of the painting is largely fueled by intuition and decisions permeated by chance. In my production, it is relevant to highlight the contradictory tensions of the era we live in. This is why the pictorial language evokes an apparently cold and rational structure, devoid of any hint of life, in counterpoint to manual gestures that destabilize the grid. The execution time of the paintings depends, in the first instance, on the drying of the material; although it is the time of intuitive decision that sets the rhythm of the pictorial construction. Painting is, by its very nature, the antagonistic medium of creation to the consumption of images in current daily life. My life context in a demanding city like Mexico City is a factor that influences my approach to the configuration of the works. The overcrowding of sensory stimuli in the Mexican capital, in a first stage, crowded the canvas with profuse details that evoked the immensity of the city's growth. The act of painting becomes an almost meditative moment of resistance to condense infinite information into a constructive synthesis. This progression towards the reduction of elements implies an introspective mental state opposed to the experience of moving through the city. A fundamental element in this body of work is the reference to the architecture of modernity in Mexico. The mid-20th century marked a period of prosperity in the country that has not been repeated in subsequent decades. It is at this point that I am interested in thinking about the idea of progress — a concept that is perceived as alien in the social thought of my generation. In an era when progress has not only stalled but multiple global factors are causing its collapse, it is particularly complex for Latin American societies to face a deterioration of social, cultural, and economic conditions. The latest paintings in this series make subtle evocations to the architectural language of modernity, in which the canvas becomes a window of nostalgia for a future that never happened. In summary, the ideas of architecture, space, progress, and nostalgia articulate my pictorial work and shape a concern that has taken root in my consciousness of living-here and living-now. Painting, for me, is a tool that allows for mediation between my internal-mental reality and my experience with external space." -Hugo Robledo Gámez
Mexican artist Hugo Robledo investigates the boundaries between figuration and abstraction in his work, and his pictorial compositions often originate from old illustrated encyclopedias and the Internet, from which he extracts images related to architectural plans, technical diagrams, means of transport, and obsolete technologies. The collapse of the future is a project he has been working on for several years, combining an abstract and geometric language with a reflection on the ideas of architecture, space, progress, and nostalgia, which highlight the contradictory tensions of the era we live in.
