Desierto y laberinto 2014

Francis Naranjo’s “Desierto y laberinto” is a wall installation comprising a row of black and white landscape photos and a set of see-through vitrines containing earth and stones, set against a white plastic sheet that covers the wall. The stark black and white photos show what appears to be a desolate landscape, perhaps a desert or rocky coastline, fragmented and rearranged, creating a sense of disorientation, like a puzzle. The plastic sheet gives the gallery a clinical atmosphere, like the background of a scientific display. I imagine Naranjo walking that barren terrain, collecting samples, maybe feeling a sense of isolation but also fascination with the raw textures and forms of nature. It puts me in mind of other artists who have worked with landscape and found objects like Robert Smithson, with his earthworks and exploration of entropy, or maybe even some of the early land art pioneers. In fact, artists have been in dialogue with landscape since the cave painters. Ultimately, the artist is asking us to see these landscapes and objects with fresh eyes, to ponder our relationship with the environment, and how we perceive and categorize the world around us.