“Contemplation through fire”.

Carlos “Racsol” Izurieta, 1984.

Carlos Izurieta´s art is an example of what happens when you seek to arrive at several places at the same time. It wakes a mixture of senses, ideas and feelings that are quite in contrast with each other. It can easily bring a sensation of conquest and defeat, mystery and chaos, uneasiness and fear, even contentment and pleasure; All of this through darkness and enlightenment. In a time when ideas are often crushed by the complexity of the so called modern concepts and social media, Carlos manages to interpret and express a well explored state of understanding. His work talks about the building of a new balance, of the chaos brought by that state of disorder we get just before a change, allowing us to substitute fear for reason and imagination. The artist creates by working with fire, charcoal, and combining this technique with the adding of natural acids in order to bring color to life. It is by following this unique line that “Racsol” takes advantage of the small time fraction where all this concepts collide, giving them shapes and meanings, and locking it all up in a space-representing frame. The question is, if when standing in front of this work, we should ask ourselves what do we want to achieve as individuals, or where do we want to get as a collective race? Maybe, maybe not, although I will. JK.