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Ciudades Invisibles
Invisible Cities
Art
Contemporary
Location
Museo Raul Anguiano, MURA, Guadalajara, Jalisco
Year
2024
Artist
Francisco Morales
Inspired by the title of the book “Invisible Cities” by Ítalo Calvino, Francisco Morales embarks on a journey to explore the cities that emerge from the waste materials he has worked with for years as an artist.
As with Ítalo Calvino, his cities are imaginary and represent abstract concepts rather than real places. They are a work of fiction that explores themes such as memory, imagination and the nature of cities.
For this project, Francisco Morales collects elements that once belonged to other series linked to three-dimensional concepts. In a sort of resignification, the idea is to compile and assemble sets, without modifying the found materials in any way.
As in the case of spontaneous generation, the forms are grouped together to generate small-scale spaces. The assemblages result in buildings that eventually become imaginary cities. The opacity of the residues lends itself to perceive them as sets of stone or ceramic materials.
The cities acquire an appearance of their own character. They result in austere, silent compositions. They evoke Asian villages, favelas, “Venice”, classic European-style architecture.
The intimate format of the models is accompanied by freehand drawings, made in ballpoint pen, colored pencils, and cut-out fragments. The reiteration of the motifs is intended to give meaning to each of the angles, discovering nuances that do not seem to exist at first glance. The perspectives at ground level help us to better understand the spaces, the ruined constructions are invariably associated with the passage of time. All the cities are surrounded by water as a metaphor of finding the route, of reaching port.
The traces can be read as testimonies, as diaries of travelers who approached these places at different times, from different worlds.
Some quotes from the book “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino:
“Perhaps it is Venice that puzzles me the most: I don't know if I have visited it or if I have dreamed about it.”
“Transparent cities are recognizable at a glance: there is something in the air that makes them more visible than normal cities. They have the virtue of making the solid matter that constitutes them disappear.”
Calvino says of his “invisible cities” that they cannot be measured by reason or in an objective way, but rather it is the very senses and desires of their inhabitants that they awaken as they pass by.
“Invisible cities multiply, become less accessible, more secret, some say they no longer exist.”
