And they will come from the sky (VII, VIII, IX) (2022)
Oil on canvas
35 x 27 cm each
BA Collection
Inventory No.: 2022.532.3
The And they will come from the sky (VII, VIII, IX) paintings are the last three works in a series of nine pieces dedicated to paragliders, based on photographs taken from La Salvaje beach, in Sopelana, during the summer of 2022. During her residency, the artist made several visits to this beach and was struck by the contrast between the feeling of tranquillity, freedom and nature offered by the environment and the recurrent – and disturbing – presence of paragliders flying over it. She decided to turn that tension into the central motif of this series
From this perspective, the series of paragliders arises from the relationship between the formal beauty of the object and its practical function. In an abstract sense, a paraglider is presented as a coloured geometric shape that floats in the sky and receives the impact of the light. At the same time, it provides an aerial point of view that can become a tool of control, and also evokes its close relative, the parachute, intrinsically associated with war contexts.
This production dialogues with two previous works, Marelle grecque and Marelle russe, series of similar size depicting Greek and Russian soldiers. The reduced pictorial scale there plays with the double meaning between the toy and the real figure. In the same way as with paragliders, the artist was interested in the coexistence between the aesthetic dimension – the uniform, the coordination, the movements of the parade – and the harmless appearance that contrasts with the real meaning and capacity of a soldier.
Ara Méndez Murillo (Cordoba, 1997) graduated in Fine Arts from Seville University (2019) and did a Master’s Degree in Painting at ENSAV La Cambre (2022). She lives and works in Brussels (Belgium). Her work focuses on painting, where she develops the dialectics between purely pictorial elements and the meanings of the depicted image. She uses photos that she has taken of scenes whose aesthetic qualities and narrative potential attract her. She usually addresses issues related to control, rules and surveillance, inviting the viewer to reflect on issues that are often assumed to be natural, as part of the established order.