Chronotopical Archaeologies of the Individual In-Situ

Candid photography portraits of individuals walking across the great hall of Grand Central Station in New York City over a two-week period in 2019.

As a Latin-American living and working in New York since my early teens, my personal histories have been and continue to be wrought by access, and how access is denied or given to locations, to power, to social agency, to identity, to knowledge, to economic class, and even to North-American culture. By documenting individuals passing through Grand Central Station, I am creating a site-specific visual ethnography with which I seek to evaluate agency along the aforementioned terms for this specific location.

The series was inspired by the Kore and Kouros, the free-standing archaic Greek sculpture of female and male figures. As I began to photograph the series, the sculptures kept flashing in my memory, and particularly, the idea that an artist 2500 years ago was transposing a representation of the female and male body onto the stone, and here I was thinking that 2500 years later my photographs were documenting a real woman and a real man with individual names and personal histories. If you suspend belief for a moment, set aside the time in between, and let the Kore and Kourus stand side by side with these portraits, this is what a human being looks like 2500 years later.

Each work in this series is a photograph that has been aleatorily disassembled, re-layered with selections from the same image, and re-colored in post-production. Both camera and lens were calibrated to invoke [art] painting mechanical processes. These efforts were unconscious at first and it dawned on me that I was borrowing visual language from the art [painting] canon. However, the deconstruction and fragmentation of each image are meant to be obvious so as to involve the lay viewer in the conceit that these are constructions despite being primary-source photography documents.

Labyrinths is also guided by metaphysical elements extrapolated from Jorge Luis Borges’ fiction and by a personal interpretation of a motif found in the [gold-based] anthrozoomorphic ritual-art of The Muisca, a pre-Columbian, South-American culture. What I believe Borges' fiction proposes is that human knowledge has a misplaced sense of certainty that makes it paper-thin, thus I consciously sought to render these works with very little depth-of-field structured along a minimalist aesthetic preoccupied with projecting a visually-tactile bi-dimensional space.

EDITIONS
For those new to art collecting, "editions" refer to the limited number of prints produced from a single original artwork. Editions protect the exclusivity and value of each print, making it essential for collectors to understand the difference between rare and limited editions.

Under the ARTWORKS menu, I am committed to offering rare editions to guarantee exclusivity and high value for collectors. Each artwork in these collections is produced in extremely limited quantities, with only 3 prints available for larger sizes and 5 for smaller sizes. Some series are even more exclusive, offered in only one size with an edition of 3.

Under the EVOKE menu, my series will feature limited editions with up to five size options. Editions for these artworks range from 27 prints for smaller sizes to 5 for larger ones, ensuring scarcity while offering more accessibility for collectors.

RARE EDITION
A rare edition is more exclusive than a limited edition, signifying extreme scarcity with very few prints available.

Typical Range: Rare editions under the ARTWORKS menu typically include fewer than five prints, sometimes as few as three.
Value: Due to their extreme rarity, these prints are highly valuable and sought after by collectors.
Numbering: Rare editions are numbered and signed by the artist.

LIMITED EDITION
A limited edition refers to a fixed number of prints produced from a single image. Once this number is reached, no further prints are made, preserving their scarcity.

Typical Range: Under the EVOKE menu, limited editions range from 27 prints for smaller sizes to 5 for larger sizes.
Value: Limited edition prints are more accessible than rare editions, yet still maintain exclusivity.
Numbering: Each limited edition print is numbered and signed by the artist.

EXCLUSIVITY
Each series consists of a maximum of 18 to 27 artworks. Once an edition for an artwork is sold out, no more prints will be available. Once all editions in a series are sold out, the entire series will be considered sold out, ensuring the exclusivity and enduring value of each piece and series as a whole.

In summary, while both limited and rare editions indicate a finite number of prints, rare editions under the ARTWORKS menu are more exclusive and scarce, while limited editions under the EVOKE menu offer more accessibility. This distinction is crucial for collectors and galleries as it directly influences the market value and desirability of the prints.

Framing
Framing includes wood with acid-free mat, archival materials, and clear acrylic with superior UV protection. Your framed artwork ships with installation hardware and arrives ready to hang. Unframed prints are shipped in a tube. For additional framing options, please email me at marco@ma9.co.

Visual Rendering On Your Screen
The Sofa Display images and Frame Option previews are digital renderings that provide an approximate visual representation of the artwork and framing. Screen sizes, resolutions, and color settings may vary across devices, affecting the accuracy of scale and color reproduction on your screen. Please refer to the table below for exact print and framing measurements.

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International Shipping: International shipping is available at an additional cost. For more information, please email me at marco@ma9.co.

Processing & Shipping Time: All orders take approximately 10 to 15 business days to print, mount, frame, and prepare for shipping. Once shipped, delivery via UPS Ground typically takes an additional 3 to 7 business days. The total time from order to delivery is approximately 13 to 22 business days.

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For any questions or assistance, including reporting damages or issues, please reach out to us at marco@ma9.co. We are here to help and ensure you have a wonderful experience with our fine art photography.