#04: El Tequila (Tequila) 2008

Marina Pallares created this black and white linocut print titled '#04 El Tequila'. The composition uses stark contrasts to highlight the textured surfaces and the symbolic weight of the objects depicted. The eye is immediately drawn to the highball glass, rendered with dense, vertical lines to suggest the liquid contents. Pallares positions the glass against a complex backdrop of international flags. This juxtaposition creates an intriguing dialogue between a specific cultural product and a globalized world. The flags become visual signifiers, inviting reflections on cultural identity, exchange, and perhaps even the commodification of national symbols. The choice of linocut enhances the work's graphic quality, producing bold lines and a tactile feel. The starkness underscores a sense of graphic clarity that invites us to consider how objects and symbols are imbued with meaning. It's a powerful statement about the interplay between the local and the global, the particular and the universal.