Anna Lee Mraz Bartra. Peninsula 360 Press / P360P
It's just art," I hear a mother say to her son as they look out the window of the art installation kiosk in Redwood City's main plaza, where Fernando Escartiz's latest piece takes over and sparks conversation.
Since artist Escartiz began assembling his new installation, "Stardust," on November 1, some in the community have been asking, "Is that art?" in reference to the meteorite embedded in the ceiling of Redwood City's art kiosk in collaboration with Fung Collaboratives.
With the care that can only characterize Escartiz's work, in this installation the artist reproduced the facade of the kiosk, the roof, and pieces of the floor only to break it all up again. From the meteorite falls a drop of a fluorescent liquid that feeds a plant born from the rubble left by the destruction.
For me, a giant meteorite that crashes on us can represent the misfortunes that the planet is facing now, it is the perfect metaphor to understand that from suffering and catastrophe - although of enormous dimensions - it is possible to obtain what is necessary to resurface with strength towards something spiritually superior," Escartiz tells us in an interview for Peninsula 360 Press.
The conversation flows in Redwood City around Escartiz's piece, around the kiosk, in the social networks? I don't understand that art, what's on top of it?" asks one person on social media, "art suggests, one imagines," replies another.
In this sense, art has an important social function in our societies, since it has the characteristic of generating questions in people, possibly transforming them, from those who use it as a means of expression, to those who see and perceive it as spectators.
It is a production of knowledge, a transmitter of knowledge, it is a revealer of what has been unnoticed, overlooked, and which in the work of art becomes central.
We must consider the arts as an integral part of our lives, as it can once again become a fundamental support mechanism for the process of justice and equity.
The Day of the Dead in Redwood City was a massive event organized by Casa CÃrculo Cultural where the tireless work of Escartiz Studio was recognized in this celebration that, year after year, supports them in the construction of the art of the stage and the arches that welcome the attendees.
In addition, they thanked Fernando Escartiz for the installation of the Redwood City art kiosk, because for CCC his work, "Stardust," reminds us that we come from dust and to dust we shall return. And all adversity is an opportunity for rebirth. As with the beginning of life, the restarting of our lives after the pandemic.
Escartiz's installation is much more than rebuilding a facade and breaking it again. It goes beyond devising the arrival of a meteorite on Earth and destroying the kiosk dedicated to the diffusion of art in Redwood City. It is provocation, it is to generate questions, it is to imagine? That is art.
And Escartiz, once again, swept the board and crushed it.
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