Materia Prima 1979

Lita Albuquerque's "Materia Prima" is an installation that combines raw pigments with natural materials like stone, creating a dialogue between the earthly and the ethereal. The yellow pigment is the first thing you notice, right? It’s not just a color, but a field of light, almost like sunlight hitting the gallery floor. Albuquerque's work, for me, is all about surfaces and textures. It is concerned with the contrast between the rough, unyielding nature of the stones and the soft, yielding presence of the pigment. This intense yellow circle is like a pool reflecting light, blurring the line between the solid and the atmospheric. The subtle graininess of the pigment suggests a depth, a sort of portal or alchemical surface which invites you into another dimension. Albuquerque's work recalls the desert landscapes of California, where she’s lived for many years, and the Land Art movement of the 1960s and 70s. Like Walter de Maria or Robert Smithson, she is interested in how art can reframe our relationship to the world around us.