Paraíso Terrenal, 1999

Paraíso Terrenal, 1999

Mixed media installation

Aaron Salabarrías Valle works with mass-produced consumer imagery of the spiritual or the domestic. In his early work, Salabarrías Valle explored mass-produced representations of Catholicism. He employed Christian iconography and developed a Noah’s Ark series incorporating plastic or screen-printed animals. Salabarrías Valle is a proficient painter and printmaker, but in the last few years he has jettisoned his own touch in favor of installations populated by readymade objects that, through their critical placement, are rich in a humor and nostalgia that his own handicraft could only simulate.

Paraíso Terrenal, 1999 Detail - slide projection

In his latest installation works, Salabarrías Valle invents spaces of pleasure that reflect upon childhood, memory, and the place of nature in contemporary culture. Colorful children’s pools and plastic flowers create walk-through situations. His installation, Paraiso Terrenal (Earthly Paradise) incorporates such found items, creating a dramatic and inviting beach environment that belongs more to contemporary culture than nature. A carefully tended and cheerfully ersatz childhood world, the homogeneity and artifice of the setting is reminiscent of family playgrounds in developments that radiate around urban hubs such as San Juan. Child-size synthetic lakes are incongruous simulacra on an island renowned for its beaches. A touch of the shore via the suburban concrete patio, the work is wistful and even wry–but not cynical–affectionately noting the transformation of his tropical Caribbean milieu into an inflatable world of consumer products.

Slide projections depict people at the beach, enjoying themselves in often absurd-looking ways. The grown-ups are like big kids: artificially armed against nature, these swimmers are sweetly humorous in their advanced state of preparation. Their gear reflects the anxiety of their bodies; they have grown very far from any athletic activity. These bathers no longer exist in a state of grace with the natural environment.

–DC

Aaron Salabarrías Valle (b. San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1964) holds a Bachelors’ degree in printmaking from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico (San Juan) and a Masters degree in painting from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY).

Recent individual exhibitions include a project at ARCO ‘01 (Madrid, España, 2001), 1 lb. de carne, USDA choice, Liga de Estudiantes de Arte (San Juan, PR, 2000), Bajo un Palmar, Michelle Marxuach Galería, M&M Proyects (San Juan, PR, 2000), and Del Cielo a la Tierra, Museo de las Americas, (San Juan, Puerto Rico,1999).

Notable recent group exhibitions include Mega fino, Art Miami 2001 (Miami, FL, 2001), Bienal de la Habana (Havana, Cuba, 2000), and Tesoros de la Pintura Puertorriqueña, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (Santurce, PR, 2000)