STATEMENT

Our understanding of time has been changed by the advances of science. Humanity has discovered the discreteness of time, being able to grasp its longest scales and rhythms (age of the universe, galactic years, etc.), and its smallest units (Planck time).

 

Yet, life on this planet is adjusted best to perceive time relative to its most important clock: the sun. Circadian rhythms tell every living organism about the passage of night and day, while, on a grander scale, solar cycles control mass extinctions and explosions of species' varieties. In his new show, Patrick Pettersson (b. 1970) explores the concept of our perception of time and the role that natural light plays in it. Creating fictional landscapes that are at the same time wild and ordered, Patrick Pettersson explores the temporality of a landscape outside of its cultural context, focusing our attention on the light.

 

The sun thus becomes not just a marker of time in Pettersson's landscape but also one of the inhabitants of the artist's gardens. Patrick Pettersson was born in Mexico City in 1970.

 

The artist works primarily within the genre of landscapes, combining painting with engraving. His work has been exhibited in important cultural institutions in Mexico such as the San Ildefonso National Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Luis Barragán House, the Rufino Tamayo Museum, the Oaxaca Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Center for the Arts, the José Vasconcelos National Library, and others.

Patrick Pettersson