MILLUNI, From Bolivia 2018

Francis Naranjo's "Milluni, From Bolivia" looks like an earthy experiment. The colour palette is restrained, leaning into these ochre tones of the earth. These three stones or nuggets sit so solidly, they're like characters in a play, each with its own weight and texture. To the left, the glass syringe with a sample inside introduces an element of science or extraction. This is a meditation on earth, time and extraction, all at once. I’m drawn to the way the artist brings together these disparate elements. What kind of a mark is a found object? Where does the artist's touch lie when the materials are so raw and unmediated? This reminds me of the work of Joseph Beuys, in the way that he used materials like felt and fat to create charged arrangements of objects. Naranjo invites us to consider the relationship between humanity and the earth's resources, but in a way that embraces ambiguity and allows for multiple interpretations.