Manuel Calderón. False Infinities

False Infinities is the title of the second solo exhibition by Manuel Calderón (Bogotá, 1985) at the Fernando Pradilla gallery. The show brings together a set of works specifically created for this occasion in which the artist uses the association of languages -figuration, geometric abstraction- and techniques -drawing, photography, digital animation, assemblages, videos- to shape their aesthetic concerns .
The fascination with the infinite is rooted in the very question of the origin of the cosmos, in the uncertainty caused by the ignorance of the unattainable and the impossibility of overcoming it. From the limited of human existence, the transience of the time of life, the infinite is simply a concept that looks ridiculous; the infinite is the antithesis of our mortal and evanescent essence. We build to find shelter from the immensity, to rest our being in the delimited, in the geometry of the stable forms of an architecture that provides the necessary solidity for the detainment.
Calderón's artistic project stems from his experience of inhabiting the spaces that have served him as a home; The specific conditions of these places have left traces in his body and soul that are projected in his own work. The coldness of seriation and the repetition of homogeneous forms in industrialized buildings have repercussions on the daily lives of their inhabitants, who lose their individuality and become mechanized reproductions of the same subject that wanders through spaces without an apparent end. The work of Manuel Calderón is the portrait of a poorly geometrized and dystopian world; his drawing indicates the impossibility of overcoming those rigid and unquestionable limits, the fundamental structures of order.
For its part, the self-portrait, a constant in the work of Manuel Calderón, loses its subjective essence after the reiteration of its image; this body multiplies and repeats without ceasing the movements that the rational delimitation of space allows. The scenarios are regular but absurd and are no longer a dwelling, but simply places visited by men, without any sense of temporality or orientation.
Manuel Calderón holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National University of Colombia and a Master's Degree in Research, Art and Creation from the Complutense University of Madrid. His work has been exhibited in Bogotá, Madrid, London, Sao Paulo, Lima, Miami, Barcelona, Santiago and San José. In ARCO 2015, with Colombia as the guest country, Manuel Calderón was selected to present his Entre Cajas (Among Boxes) project. Calderón has a Mention in the V Bidimensional Art Salon, organized by the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation of Bogotá (2011), and the EFG Bank & ArtNexus Acquisition Award for the best young Latin American artist in 2012.