For NADA New York 2022, N.A.S.A.L. present a duo show of Pablo Andino (1990, Ecuador) and Javier Barrios (1989, Mexico).
Pablo Andino presents a series of abstract works where he creates metaphors between graphics, writing, and plants. Continuing with the materiality of his last solo exhibition Doblar el humo, he uses the tempera technique to create textures that become skins supporting graphics reminiscent of branches and petals, but also hands and bodies. In this selection, there is a clear allusion to growth, consumption, and language as a tool that shapes things.
Javier Barrios unveils drawings that create surreal, mythological botanical worlds where orchids become demonic, monstrous protagonists ruling an infernal, richly diverse landscape. Influenced by Asian art, Pre-Columbian ceramics, and caricature portraiture, Barrios seeks to free orchids from their traditional, ornamental aura and reimagine them as divinities from hell. In this counter-narrative—where plants hold power over humans—flowers appear as demons and dark deities occupying a position never before assigned to them. However fictional these scenes may seem, the dynamics and tensions they depict speak directly to the world we inhabit.