Oriens, 2011
Video, 22' (colour, sound)
Courtesy of the artist.
Produced by CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Comunidad de Madrid; LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón/Asturias; and La Conservera, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Ceutí/Murcia
Jorge Peris (Alcira, Valencia, 1969) begins his works in response to a commission, which triggers him to start working. Elements like water, mould, salt, sand, the force of gravity, and the nature of the space where his work will be shown, open up lines of research suggested by the place: an on-site excavation, a ceiling that is lowered until it almost flattens the visitor, and a greenhouse in a state of putrefaction are some of the experiments carried out by this nomadic artist who becomes involved in the environment that the commissioned work takes him into.
Jorge Peris is more or less clear about the starting point of his works, but the point of arrival, the conclusion – which is supposedly of particular interest to the artist – can be difficult to pinpoint. The experiment begins with a challenge, but the goal can lead Peris along one of several paths. Any progress can end up being a step that leads into a new line of research. Experiment, attempt, trial and error are the driving forces of Peris’s work, which remains open until the very end, with or without a conclusion, on the lookout for new projects in which an accident in the midst of the process can end up leading to a new piece. Peris is interested in processes like erosion, putrefaction and corrosion, which sometimes get out of hand and go beyond his plans, and where the sublime can emerge out of imperfection.
Given that his recent projects have focused on salt as a raw material, it was almost inevitable that he would decide to go in search of the untamed, spectral landscape in Bolivia that would allow him to experience what it feels like to be completely surrounded by this material at an altitude of 3,650 metres. Peris’s use of video is as experimental as his installations, and for this exhibition he has made the third video of his artistic career, based on a trip to the Uyuni salt pan, the largest salt desert in the world stretching over a 12,000 km area. Oriens brings together horizontality, abstraction, spatial geometry, vibration and an interest in the sublime. The moment of scientific discovery, the longed-for “Eureka!”, is like a virgin landscape that nobody has ever set eyes on before. In the work of Jorge Peris, this is often literally the case.
