Through an exercise to recover antique religious triptychs, Mario Antón (Santander, Spain 1993) reflects on the future of our planet, the force of nature and environmental issues.
The work of Mario Antón, has its origins in his family collection of triptychs, pieces that he uses as a blank canvas where he can express the current concerns of our contemporary world.
The triptychs have always been an emblematic format in the world of art, a piece which is not affected by the passage of time; these objects and what they represent, go together in perfect consonance with the historical context in which they are created.
They also have a certain political origin, reflecting the socio-cultural context of the period of their creation, equating the political salvation to the spiritual one.
In this exhibition Mario explores the different stories behind each triptych, and his work of process: from analysing the iconology of each of them to get inspiration, the manual work he does by removing the original painting and preparing the wood, to finally create a new imaginary and iconology maintaining the original spirit of each triptych, reinterpreting the image and the original message and its symbolism with a new language.
The new works emanate from Mario’s constant interest in ancient art, especially medieval and Renaissance devotional painting.
All of his triptychs work with the restoration technique in reverse. Like the paintings that have inspired him, they are vivid, realistic and silent works that make us reflect on the past, present and future.
His works are designed in such a way that they serve to cultivate knowledge about how to be in the world, to develop a deep understanding of our presence on this planet.