The qualitative order of resemblances and the cuantitative order of equivalences, 2010

25 photographs, variable sizes 
images of the artist 'with' and 'as' his father -

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ENGLISH translation by Susan Ayoob

 

 "Repetition as a conduct and as a point of view concerns non-exchangeable and non.sustitutable singularities.
Reflections, echoes, doubles and souls do not belong to the domain of resemblances or equivalence;
and it is no more possible to exchange one's soul than it is to substitute real twins for one another."
Gilles Deleuze

The qualitative order of resemblances and the quantitative order of equivalences



My work can only be understood at a comprehensive level.  Starting in 2006, my works can be divided into three groups that were each developed independently but which constitute a unique language that I present in the form of open questions to the viewer.  Always clearly, directly, and personally.  I use art as a means of confronting questions for which I have no answer. 


The first group is painting, from two dimensional to three dimensional, from poetic to empty.  The second group is travel notes, drawings on plane and train tickets, napkins, etc., small reflections on the pilgrimage of the artist in contemporary art.  The third group is the most complicated of alll: photography, adaptations, appropriations, videos, audio recordings and sculptures that represent a constant search for the meaning of life, identity and the existence of God.

It is in this last group that I include this series of photographs where I have taken old photos of my father and I have repeated myself or added myself to them as a double or as a brother-friend of his at the time. This work has required reinterpretation, scenography, costume, photography, lighting, digital manipulation, printing, abuse, and aging. 


The results are images that transport the viewer to a past that is neither mine nor my father’s, bur rather everyone’s.  Nostalgia for what has not been lived.  That important part of our identity that we never actually were.



Even though these images are very specific and personal, they are also a semiotic analysis of the printed image in contemporary collective memory, and are perhaps an approach to another impossible question: can one reach happiness through repetition, or even the invention of a fictitious memory? 



Deleuze defined repetition as conflicting with generality, and he divided generality into two fundamental orders that are the source for the title of this work.  “How much do I resemble my father…and in how many ways are we similar?”  As an exercise in identity, I understand who I am based on my similarity to others, and also on that which I am not. 


The first photographs, or “the qualitative order of resemblances”, are images that, in their repetitive nature, exclusively highlight differences.  My father and I (are/were(at the same age) so similar physically and in terms of our personality that this was irresistible in terms of a visual essay. 


The second group or “the quantitative order of equivalences”, is the generation of common denominators around which I can play with and even coexist with my father.  Here I intend to, as Kierkegaard did, repeat experiences and, by doing it with images, I try to generate continuous memory reinforcement throughout my life until in the future I can look back and “remember” with these photos that which I did not live. 


This is a long-term experiment of the sense one feels when remembering things or moments that have been reinforced because of a photograph.  The memory of moments that were not materially registered tends to be more vague than documented memory, but I can’t confirm that they are less accurate.  Maybe printed images are also filters that condition our future perception of the past. 

When they break up, couples tend to destroy pictures of themselves together as a useless attempt to destroy memories.  With these series of pictures I am trying to do the opposite: create images that in turn create memories. 


 

Special thanks to:



My father, brother and aunts and uncles for allowing me to use the photos. 

Julián Guajardo, for the lighting and photography.  

Ruth Enciso for the haircut and clothing.

The team from Muno for their work on the production.

 

Plinio Avila

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