Ciento cincuenta millones de años 2018

Francis Naranjo made ‘Ciento Cincuenta Millones de Años’ - that translates as 150 million years - by placing a stone in a transparent box. That box, a clean, minimal vitrine, sits on a shelf, all of which forms part of the work. I mean, what is this, science or art? Well, the magic is in the gap between those two things, a gap of time and space. The stone is ancient, weathered, smooth. You can imagine holding it in your hand, the feeling of time passing, geological time. It's a real contrast with the plastic box, which is modern and crisp. That contrast gets you thinking about the ways we look at things, how we frame them. The box is a way of framing the stone, of giving it value, placing it in a context. A bit like a painting, I suppose. Thinking about art as an ongoing conversation across time, I am reminded of other artists like Anya Gallaccio, who uses organic materials in her work, like flowers or fruit. Like Naranjo, she is interested in the beauty of decay and the passage of time. There are no fixed or definitive meanings here, just things for us to observe and reflect on.