Enrique Rosas: Fire and Transformation

In pre-Hispanic times, the New Fire ceremony was celebrated every 52 years, marking the end of a cosmic cycle to ensure the world did not descend into darkness and bring hope of renewal.

In the series of cyanotypes, a dream call leads the artist to interpret the mural of the central library of the University of Mexico, made by Juan O'Gorman in 1952. Plus Ultra is the result of an impossible synchronicity across three generations.

Arte Lucis et Umbrae by Athanasius Kircher, and his dialogue with Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The Eclipsed Mithras is a Persian sun god who wears the Phrygian cap, a symbol of freedom that was shared on Mexican and French coins.

A monumental habitable sculpture from the Ruta de la Amistad complex, it was a space explored by the artist since his youth. Enrique Rosas combines his learning of calligraphy, photography and exercises in the art of geometry to create his “cyanotype calligraphies”.

A cathartic series, a revelation that consumes and tames fire. To do this, the red pigment of the cochineal (insect) from Mexico is used. “I was amazed to discover how this living material reacts to chemistry with unpredictable results.”

The drawings in this series are the result of an artist residency in China where the artist describes calligraphy as “a physical, hard and demanding martial art.” Here the inks come from the combustion of mineral and vegetable oils, embodying fire itself.

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A temporary studio was presented during the exhibition where there were constant changes. In this place, Enrique bases his ideas on the objects he has brought from his distant studio, and where there was a constant exchange of ideas with the visitors.

His experiences led him to study G.W. Leibniz, whose contribution of the binary system to modern science underpins all our cybernetic technologies. This led the artist to research holographic identities and stereoscopic images.