MATERIAL MEDITATION

On the work of Nicolás Mastracchio.

Immersed in dimmed lights, colors and objects oscillate, within what Nicolás Mastracchio has developed as a meticulous logic of images. Making use of materials that would seemingly find no subsequent function, Mastracchio sets things in random movement, letting weight, gravity and chance arrange the objects and photographs them. These uncontrolled photo compositions evoke a sense of incomprehension and visual novelty, triggering sensations that destabilize our fixed meanings. They do so by blurring the boundaries between the analogue and the digital spaces. This stimulates states of awareness to take us out from our everyday inability to sense beyond our inherited sense of sight. 

In his practice, he uses objects such as colored papers, cuttings, paper scraps and other overlooked everyday objects and displays them on a scenic surface. This reuse of leftovers and fragments of paper can be an example of zero-waste art, unnoticeable at first sight. His pictures in no way resemble worn-out materials or a patchwork impression. On the contrary, the high quality of the workmanship and the right balance between randomness and control create a final impression that is visually far from its origin. His works seem to play with the conventional aesthetics of commercial advertisements and street posters, his trust in materials and manual work bring to mind haute couture, tailored to the individual customer. Mastracchio's work can be read as a critique of consumerism when one considers precisely how his works are created and in their use of the leftovers. In this case, the artist turns the disposable into a space of contemplation.

The artist will present a site-specific installation at the AWC office in Wedding, Berlin, consisting of a large-format photography and lighting setting. Meditation material is a space for contemplation that harmonizes with the working space of everyday reality.

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