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GABA STRUCTURES
2023/2024

GaBa Structures: Codes to Populate Space

By Joel Bracho Ghersi

 

The development of any artist’s work is marked by the search for and affirmation of a unique language. What binds the different stages of an artistic journey is often the presence of a common code, a mode of expression articulated through the individuality of each artist, which underpins the multiplicity of the work while giving it meaning and foundation. An artist also affirms themselves when they invent or discover this language, this unique code through which they shape their creation.

 

A distinctive aspect of Gabriela Batista’s (GaBa) work is her strong interest in geometry, essential forms, and vibrant color combinations. This interest, accompanying her since childhood, has been the foundation of all her work—especially over the past decade when she first presented her GaBa Codes series to the public. These geometric codes, articulated structures giving rise to various combinations, have formed the foundation of her work over the last ten years—a code, a script, a way of expressing and realizing her art.

 

Since then, this language has accompanied various series that have moved from painting to sculpture, from the depiction of natural elements to the creation of large-scale works for urban spaces. But at the core has always been the code: the geometric structure, the combination of elements in a formal order where rigor gives way to playfulness, and the weight of form to the lightness of color.

 

In GaBa Structures, her latest body of work, the artist reimagines her geometric code with new dynamism. Each piece now focuses on a few shapes that transform through the viewer’s interaction. The parallel lines and right angles characteristic of much of her earlier work now open into unexpected perspectives that captivate, deceive, and invite viewer participation. These are flat, wall-mounted works, yet they seem to enter the space. The geometric hardness softens in buoyancy, and the pieces appear light, airy.

 

The artist had been working for some time on launching her codes into space and generating volume from the plane. Prior to GaBa Structures, she had created paper works that played with improbable geometric variations and forced perspectives. These pieces served as sketches and starting points for the new GaBa Structures, now created on innovative aluminum supports treated with industrial paints. Here, the immaculate finish of the support enhances the volumetric effect and adds to the viewer’s sense of wonder.

 

Art always contains an element of the unexpected, confronting us with ourselves and our relationships with reality. Gabriela Batista’s GaBa Structures confront us with a different view of things and the elusive reality of these geometric codes that float in space, inviting new possible exchanges with our surroundings. The truth of the work lies there—in what it reveals about our own gaze.

 

Panama, April 2024

© all right reserved .  Gabriela Batista Art . 2024

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