In Search of The Infinite: What We Learn from Juan Arango Palacios’ Paintings
Juan Arango Palacios, Group Selfie (Copyright © Juan Arango Palacios, 2022)
The vivid imagery of Juan Arango Palacios' work invokes a seduction that encapsulates us in an ulterior world and yet oscillates us back into a worldly reality. These continuous motions between the real and the fantastical indulge us with the opportunity to reflect on the relationships our bodies have in the world. How do we see ourselves in relation to each other and how do we exist in relation to the material of the universe? Looking at Juan’s painting Group Selfie (2022), I cannot help but think about the beauty of the infinite and where we can begin to find it. Juan’s sensibility of shaping light and space through their use of monochromatic hues becomes an invitation to search for the infinite within the multiple selves that exist in the mirror.
A group of eccentric, fashionably-styled animated individuals pose while signaling different hand gestures and expressions in front of a mirror. Light sparkles in their eyes. Their expressions twinkle, and you can feel the bodily vibrations in the canvas. Some look away while others look directly at the camera. The camera is a cell phone being held by one of the individuals in the middle of the scene. This person wears a mesh textured black shirt with their nails done, gripping onto the phone. The composition and posture of the individuals feels real, almost as if it were you with your friends on a night out making faces at the mirror. The scale of the painting, measuring 4” x 4”, also contributes to this feeling. The canvas could be a life-sized mirror demanding a similar physical presence. The spontaneous candid snapshot in the specific moment allows each person in the painting to embody a playful seriousness and a type of sharp gaze that is mutually felt. They are truly “feeling themselves.”
Situated in the endemic landscape of our current reality, and with the anticipation of going back to the “real world” or into another space––maybe the dancefloor or just back to being in public––the painting signals a candid, swift, and brief period etched in time. This pause allows the viewer to enter their world: a private space, a space that could possibly be the restroom or their own collective non-physical shared space, a shared time. Imbued with these multiple layers of time, the viewer has no clear reference other than the light. This light alludes to a limitless space within the painting. Further adding to this distortion of time, the range of hues from the color magenta morphs the figures and the light into ubiquitous space. Through the process of subtraction, color is removed and emphasized in other areas of saturation. Juan crafts the space by using the classical painting method of chiaroscuro to create a strong contrasts of light and shadow building the dimension in the space. With added dimensional layers, the paint comes to life through the vibrant energy of the individuals in the scene. Juan notes:
"I move paint around the surface of the canvas in order to direct light. I like to use translucent paint to conceal areas in a way that is not opaque, but rather in a way that light can move through several layers of paint to create more interesting interactions among colors. I smudge, scrape, and scratch to reveal different colors and to create a light sensibility that is not opaque, but open and transparent. I apply paint not to conceal or to make a mark, but rather to create an atmosphere that references blurred memories, divine apparitions, fantastical mythologies, and hazy club environments."
The careful placement of white paint––one of the four colors used in the painting––provides a divine-like quality. Its use emphasizes different elements in the painting, including the way light is depicted. A heightened sense of contrast between light and dark tones contributes a subtle range of colors which alludes to a dream-like space. In this unique space, things that present themselves are not always as they seem to be. Much like the effects of fog in a clubspace, or when you encounter someone in this dramatic lighting, with loud music, and the close proximity of strangers may feel more obscured than what they may look like outside of the space. This fog blankets the painting appearing to exist in a timeless space further emphasizing an ethereal atmosphere for these individuals to exist in.
The highlights in hair texture and shimmer in the eyes of each of the individuals present them as heavenly and godly. The collective sparkle in their eyes could also signal that they are in love and or have love for one another. This glimmer demands attention and maybe this is their way of asking to be seen. Glued directly onto the canvas, pink and red gemstones emphasize this desire for visibility as well. The painting addresses a type of adorned presence that accounts for everyone at once, together, knowing that they too see one another fully. In this work, a reflection in a mirror projected onto a camera allows us to see a group of friends unapologetically expressing who they are. Imagine if this were a “real” mirror and the viewer was able to see themself in it, then in that moment, the viewer's bodily presence would also become part of the group. Embedded in the painting then, the viewer would possibly understand that they are also capable of finding the beautiful within themselves only if they too recognize the beauty in others around them.
Poet Kahlil Gibran notes at the end of his 1923 poem titled On Beauty,
“…beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.”¹
Inquisitively, what does it mean to be both eternity and a mirror at once? Mirrors are capable of reflecting back to you things you may not be ready to see. They are also entry points, and possible portals into the infinite within oneself. I am reminded of a house of mirrors. Two mirrors or more face each other and reflect a type of endlessness that may appear disorienting. In Group Selfie, Juan metaphorically turns the canvas into a mirror, allowing the viewer to enter the mirror space from multiple angles and vantage points within the painting. The viewer then has the option of seeing themselves along with the individuals: simultaneously witnessing a reflection of their own self in relation to the individuals represented. The viewer is projected into the painting through the encounter with the work, functioning like a mirror.
In this space of potential for the viewer to see themselves in the mirror, something unique happens. The viewer enters a cognitive imaginative state which allows for oscillation in reference to the painting. The mirror orients the viewer both within and outside of the painting, expanding the scope of what’s observable the longer you sit with it. This situates the viewer in an enchanted world of possibility, blurring the lines between ideas of outside and inside. This new worldview may possibly encourage the viewer to search inwards through their own bodily experience. The painting and the mirror allow the viewer to perceive themselves in many multiplicities, further conceptualizing what Gibran gestures towards in his sense of eternity. An eternity sits within the mirror, and also within us, if we gaze back at it. It is up to the viewer to decide to look directly into it. If we were to think about the painting as a mirror, then what Juan has done is create a starting point to understand that mirror within us all––a deeper sense of the infinite.
In his book Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Carl G. Jung notes that integral to human life is understanding our “link to the infinite” and until we recognize this, our human lived experience filled with desires is misguided by the illusion of pursuing “false possessions…”.² While the sense of feeling unbound and never-ending can incite feelings of awe and fear, Juan reminds us of the beauty that could be when we take the time to sit with this infinity and observe its origins. Interior beauty radiates outwards, shining onto the limitless beauty outside, present in the everyday.
Even though only one camera is present in the painting, the individuals serve as witnesses for each other and for the instance of the “selfie.” To understand oneself and find the beauty within is to acknowledge that what is also around you holds a similar beauty. Thus, what is around you is a reflection of who you are. In this sense, I think about Maurice Merleau-Ponty and his phenomenological understanding of the world where he notes “my being for me, my being for the other, the being for itself of another, and his being for me.”³ When relating to the self and others in the world he creates an infinity loop much like this symbol ∞. This understanding intersects with what Juan has visually created in their painting. Group Selfie serves as a reflection of a group of friends, and an entry point to their experiences and their world. A world that the viewer gets to experience from a distance with the opportunity to enter if they allow themselves to understand. Thus, each person involved becomes a witness of their own beauty while reflecting such beauty to one another. Mirrors reflecting light with anticipation of being seen.
In conversation with Krista Tippet, poet, theologen, and philosopher John O’Donohue notes that “ Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness. Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming…[beauty] is about an emerging fullness…”. I wonder then: is it possible to surrender to the light in hopes of an “emerging fullness?”⁴ Is it then possible to understand that the individuals in Juan’s Group Selfie (2022) are doing just that, surrendering to the light? In their postures and gestures we can see this depth and fullness depicted in the richness of color and in the carving of light that Juan has illustrated. The individuals find their angles oriented towards the light. While the viewer may not know where exactly the light may be originally coming from, one thing we do see is that light reflected back, coming from the eyes. A coat of light reflected in the mirror permeates the scene with a special shine. That same illuminating light is also conveyed through the eyes of each of the individuals in the painting. This emphasis of light points towards a collective beauty and an awareness of a possible collective “substantial becoming.”
In Group Selfie, Juan shows us what beauty looks like. This work orients us towards the light, to the people around us, and to our collective ability to see ourselves in all our complexities within a mirror. Where else do we find this beauty if not in the light? Where else do we find ourselves if not in the light? Where else do we find the light if not in each other? Light is a source of energy that illuminates the path in front of us and guides us towards a better sense of self, that which is beautiful. Much like sunlight or the concentration of fire in a pit, light forms a powerful energy. In Group Selfie, this power is made visible as well as its sensational reverberations. The sparkles in their eyes direct us towards a new possibility of seeing––a reorientation back towards our own light, and back again to each other. In this precious space, we can begin to see ourselves differently, shift our perceptions of each other, and find beauty within and around us. Ultimately, what is more beautiful than to experience beauty in each other?
Footnotes
¹ Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. (United States, A. A. Knopf, 1923), 85-86.
² Jung, C. G.. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. (United Kingdom, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011), 389-390.
³ Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. The Visible and the Invisible (United States, Northwestern University Press, 1968), 80.
⁴ https://onbeing.org/programs/john-odonohue-the-inner-landscape-of-beauty-aug2017/
Xavier Robles Armas (b.1991 Zacatecas, Mexico), is an artist and curator, based in Brooklyn by way of Santa Ana, CA. Informed by brown practices of leisure, play and placemaking he investigates the alchemy and unstable moments of belonging. Attuned to light he creates photographs and sculptures for new perspectives in worldmaking. His most recent curatorial project was titled Ambientes: Places After Time at Heaven Gallery in Chicago. He is currently an Exhibitions and Programs Fellow at the Queens Museum.