Sand Trap
In 2009 arte_FITS.FOUNDATION became interested in two young artists who, at the time, were working on their Masters of Arts degrees in Valencia, Spain. Fate was on our side once we found out they were Puerto Ricans. Knowing this was an opportunity the Foundation could not pass, when the twins, Javier & Jaime Suárez, returned to Puerto Rico in December 2009, the brainstorming of a utopian project began to unfold. After combing the “canvas” of Dorado and deciding how the twins would create the artwork, the concept was finally developed: an artistic intervention with a “sand trap” at the famous East Golf Course at Dorado Beach – the “Mona Lisa of golf courses”.
Nevertheless, the ephemeral nature of the work led to its dissolution into the earth leaving us with the inclination to preserve the work thru photographic mediums. arte_FITS.FOUNDATION, along with photographers Johnny Betancourt, Tristán Reyes, and Vladimir Ceballos, documented the artists’ performance process in order to properly demonstrate the evolution of the intervention.
Humans’ relationship with nature ranges from contemplation & harmonious use to exploitation & destruction. So, although the interventions with nature may sometimes be negative, it is possible that occasionally they can turn out positive. By intervening through art one is given the opportunity to ask:
“What is on the surface of what is called nature and what lies beneath it?” This is the way arte_FIST relates with nature. With respect, harmony and creativity, in the quest of living between the eternal and ephemeral.
– Carolina Stubbe
Agenda
December 2009 – Artists study the terrain and meet with one of the archeologists on the site.
March 2010 – Days before the intervention, the artists collected the multi-colored pigments that would shape the pictorial design covering the sand trap.
STEPS
“Using flour, we first applied the [color] white to build the rigid pictorial framework needed for the design.”
“We then applied the sediment’s terracotta to unify the shapes. It worked as a sort of muscle tissue to the drawing. The grayish soil was employed to define the pieces of the design.”
Afterwards, the surface was traced using a stick similar to a coa (pre-Columbian digging stick) while simultaneously moistening the sand to create precise lines that outlined the composition.
*During the gestation process the artists decided to name the work Trampa de Arena after the space that housed it.
Once the artwork was finished, the artists visited the site every day, regardless of how the climate was, until the sand trap was restored to its original state.
“Today our sight is a little weary, burdened by the memory of a thousand images… We no longer see nature; we see picture over and over again”
– Artist Paul Cézanne urging landscape artists to explore a more direct experience of nature. (Richard, 1988)
Patterns are what mostly characterize the Suárez’s artworks. The abstract visual vocabulary in Trampa de Arena had the appearance of umbilical cords that connect the sand in the trap with the grass of the golf course. These continuous lines sometimes even revealed bird-like shapes; contemplating that birds hint at the idea of direction and, according to the Suárez, they were the first ones to witness the project.
Consider the emotional attachment all artists have with their works. Now, the commitment Land artists have is one that should be mostly valued, for without minding how hard the artist works, Land Art interventions will always be transitory; hence the necessity of photographic records. Nevertheless, the photographs can only capture two dimensions. These artworks need to be experienced in person, in order to be properly appreciated as everything it is. Once the land work disappears, one is left with another work of art: nature. The making of Trampa de Arena could be seen almost as a ritual act where many components of nature were consolidated through the hands of these virtuoso twins.