Eternal and ephemeral
One Year ago fist_art FOUNDATION became interested in two young artists working on their Masters of Arts degrees in Valencia, Spain.
Fate was on my side when these creators happily turned out to be Puerto Ricans. I knew this was an opportunity that the Foundation could not let pass. Twins, Javier and Jaime Suárez, returned to Puerto Rico in December 2009 and thus, the story of a utopian project began to unfold. The project is now a reality.
After combing the “canvas” of Dorado and deciding how the twins would create their artwork we developed the concept: an artistic intervention with a “sand trap” at the famous East Golf Course at Dorado Beach – the “Mona Lisa of golf courses.”
Prior to today’s performance, the twins worked fourteen hours creating their vision on the 18th hole of the East Course. Javier and Jaime describe it: “to create something that does not last, it is the ephemeral moment of the art.”
The ephemeral nature of the work leads to its dissolution into the earth. We had to preserve the work in other mediums. fist_art FOUNDATION, along with Johnny Betancourt, Tristán Reyes, and Vladimir Ceballos, documented the artists’ process, and gave life to the unique creative experience. An idea that developed over time: the intervention of the golf course, the search for organic materials, the decision to realize it on a grand scale, analysis of the natural elements of the environment, and finally the realization of an ephemeral work: Trampa de Arena.
The performance of Javier and Jaime creates a record captured in an artistic photograph. It becomes part of the work.
The work that lives as the earth, is then left to the elements, and ultimately fades with nature relies solely on photography and video to give us forever lasting impressions of the art.
Our relationship with nature goes from contemplation, to harmonious use, to exploitation, and destruction. Human intervention with nature can be positive and it can be negative. Intervening through art gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves questions about what is on the surface of what we call nature and what lies beneath it. This is the way fist_art relates with nature: with respect, with harmony, and with creativity in the quest of living between the eternal and the ephemeral.
Carolina Stubbe
fist_ART from Josue Bendana on Vimeo.