From Rock Abstracts to Urban Abstracts
Among the first images I took that I considered a type of abstract art, were of rocks.
At first I started taking pictures in spaces that I already visited, making use of what was readily available.
I had this routine that everyday at work during my lunch hour, I would eat for the first part of it and walk the second half of it. I started this habit originally to improve my health. And whilst walking the trails my workplace has arranged, I was drawn to the rocks that lined the path. I particularly liked the colors.
These colors were hard to spot on other objects and as I started taking these pictures I reflected on what made these colors so appealing to me and so unique.
If we were to closely inspect the coloring on the surface of rocks, and I pretty much did this zooming in as I was taking the picture and later at the computer., we can appreciate the many different variances in shade and color each part of the surface has. Its amazing how such a vastly diverse spectrum of elements compose the surface. and particularly whats makes them so unique is the reason for them being there.
The colors basically represent how the inherent properties of said rock's elements when they come into contact with their surrounding. Minerals grouped together into a rock by ages of forces of nature, which continue to be molded by these as they see countless days and rains. Then to be picked up and transported somewhere else, along with others, to be possibly purchased as construction materials for something, and as such also get exposed to a variety of circumstances very unique to humankind.
All this informs upon the surface of a rock, and how found it. It creates this "skin" which is a testament to its life, and as such, the colors it displays are unique and have a certain depth to them.
My experience with the rocks led me to think about the desert (where I live), and how this environment makes its mark on the rocks and other things it houses. This led me to explore the urban jungle as well.
In the urban setting I started noticing a similar phenomena than with the rocks. I noticed these interesting intersections of circumstances, which individual elements bore witness to a wealth of experiences and consequently had similar depths.
In the Urban Abstracts, similarly to rocks, I seek pictures that try to capture these intersections regardless of where or on what they may be.
A brick wall that belongs to a building, a building that was visualized and built in a certain age and under certain aesthetic assumptions of that point in time, and since then has been purposed for different things, changed ownership, management, and aesthetic tastes since it was been built. The area around it, also changed through time, living through times of decay, and through times of renewal. The city around it, its inhabitants, and the passing decades, informing upon its current look. It's skin, also a testament to its experiences.
Andres Gonzalez
