CARLOS JACANAMIJOY: OLOR A TIERRA
Almine Rech Paris, Turenne is pleased to present Olor a tierra, Carlos Jacanamijoy's first solo exhibition with the gallery.
January 11 - March 1, 2025
Multicolored bursts emerge, covering the surface of the canvas. The colors pulse, explode, and contract, while our eyes seek familiar reference points. Are these parts of the night sky? Of an underwater scene? Light filtered by a canopy of trees? The shapes disintegrate with dazzling speed. What revelation hides behind these colorful brushstrokes?
Carlos Jacanamijoy gives us a hint: “I like to paint from the auca’s point of view.” In Colombian folklore, the auca is a bogeyman who comes to punish naughty children. But in his native Amazon rainforest, the auca is a bold youngster who lives among the trees, an untamed trickster. The Inga, the indigenous people of Carlos’s homeland, the upper Putumayo, say that no one can really see the auca. As soon as someone is about to spot him, the auca transforms into rustling leaves, a running animal, a flying bird, or a crawling insect. How can you show the countless perspectives of a being that is pure transformation? A being who looks at the world as the wind, a tree, rain, a jaguar, or a hummingbird?
“The auca’s infinite potential for transformation is wonderful. For me, he is a symbol of the freedom offered by nature. A bird does not ask whether it is a bird or a stone. It simply flies just the way it is. A flower does not ask whether it is red or blue. It exists on its own.” Carlos learned this wisdom from his father, who communicated with the spirits of the forest, and his grandmother, who spoke to plants. “My paintings are a tribute to these memories that affected me powerfully in a very sensory way.”
By bringing together multiple sensations, Carlos invites us to dissolve the boundaries to which we are too attached, through indolence or custom. The artist even blurs the differences between the senses. His paintings can describe a smell through its texture, sound, and especially its colors. His work enacts a kind of synesthesia that, instead of confusing matters, actually constitutes a holistic way of perceiving existence.