#17: La Luna (The Moon) 2008

Marina Pallares made this tiny print called “La Luna” – The Moon – using ink and a carved block. It's such a vivid image, so playful. The artist has carved away at the block to leave only these stark black lines and shapes. I can almost feel the give of the linoleum as the tool moved through it. I can imagine her wanting to capture that feeling of freedom and joy in this simple but evocative image. And the image itself! A skeleton with a moon face on a swing… I wonder what she was thinking about when she made this? Does the skeleton represent the passage of time, swinging under the watchful eye of the moon? Or is it a more personal symbol? I find her work so intriguing. There's a real conversation happening between the living and the dead, joy and sorrow, light and darkness. She’s really got something special going on here.