Espacio modificado #25 2002

Curator: Pablo Rey's "Espacio modificado #25," created in 2002, presents a fascinating field of textured interactions. Editor: It has a nervous energy. My first impression is almost geological; I'm reminded of shale, some kind of stratified rock face worn away by water. All those little rivulets of color. Curator: That resonates. Consider the title, "Modified Space." I see the process as one of intervention and alteration of a surface. Rey seems to be engaged in a conversation with materials— exploring what paint can *do*, how it can accumulate and interact. Editor: The individual color shapes, are they just colors, or are they also alluding to a language of symbols, little glyphs whose meanings we can no longer read, scattered by the passage of time? I feel like each mark has the potential for narrative. Curator: Or maybe each mark simply is what it is – a direct result of Rey's physical engagement with the canvas, the viscosity of the paint, the angle of the brush. I wonder about his studio practice. Was this impulsive, or meticulously planned? Is he building up layers or carving away at a pre-existing ground? The layers become a record of those actions. Editor: Perhaps a bit of both? But those scattered yellow ochre fragments—aren't they reminiscent of broken halos, all that remains of vanished saints, stripped of their devotional context and disseminated into abstraction? Curator: It's interesting to imagine this as sacred wreckage, though I'm inclined to see them as just paint. Perhaps remnants from previous artworks reworked or repainted into an abstract form. Rey repurposing the studio leftovers. Editor: Still, even "just paint" carries the history of its pigment. Consider how that pigment was sourced, what its use signifies. So, perhaps its layered history tells a cultural story even when he's not actively trying to encode that. Curator: Exactly. "Espacio modificado #25" encapsulates the transformative power of art-making itself and questions artistic boundaries. Editor: I will think about shale strata and broken halos for quite some time.