Puerta Roja presents Anamnesis by two Spanish rising stars María García Ibáñez and Javier León Pérez in the second edition of Art Central, Hong Kong

Puerta Roja is proud to present Anamnesis: the reasoned doubt, the first collaboration between the two young Spanish artists, María García Ibáñez and Javier León Pérez. Curated by Pilar Cano Romero, the exhibition at Booth C6 will present a brand new series of works stemming from a collaboration between the two young Spanish artists that have captured the imagination of collectors across Asia Pacific.

Anamnesis (from the Greek word ἀνάμνησις) means ‘collection’, ‘reminiscence’, ‘remembrance’. Anamnesis is the idea that humans possess knowledge from past incarnations and that learning consists of rediscovering that knowledge within us. The term was coined by Plato in the context of “knowledge as a remembrance” or “dialogue of the soul with itself.”

Puerta Roja’s founder, Adriana Alvarez-Nichol states: “We commissioned the collaboration months ago motivated by the seeming dialogue between the works of two of our youngest but most impactful artists. Beyond the evident connection in the painstaking techniques both artist display in their work, it was their deep concern with the process of drawing as a tool for spiritual and philosophical discovery that stirred us to bring María and Javier to work together.”

Pilar Cano Romero, curator of the exhibition notes on the artists’ collaboration: “We are privileged spectators of one of those rare phenomena where two parallel universes converge momentarily. Through drawing, María and Javier dissect, comprehend and then recompose reality into a complex tissue created with fragments of their own mental processes. Departing from the most basic geometric shapes, the artists create an infinite, cosmic web, where the smallest unit of expression is repeated.

Departing from the artists’ individual and more intimate works, in this collaborative project, drawing is saved for sketches and preliminary studies, making way to a construction of human scale proportions. This expansion in scale makes the work literarily habitable. We can observe a nod to the Bauhaus movement as the starting point for modern design, where the materials, together with careful execution techniques, are treated as an artisanal practice which gives unique character to the works.

We talk about the artists’ process not as a purposeful creative act or purely as an anticipator of the resulting work, but as an act of Anamnesis, the discovery of a memory that had always been there.”

In addition to brand new individual works by each artist, the exhibition will introduce a unique joint edition series specially made for Puerta Roja. The artists and curator will intervene Puerta Roja’s gallery to create an immersive environment where visitors will be plunged into their own journey of discovery.