This selection of recent works on paper by Spanish artist Jerónimo Elespe follows an extremely slow and meticulous process. The multiple layers of Japanese ink, applied and removed from handmade paper, are testimony to the extensive research and production processes in which Elespe has further developed his interest in anachronistic techniques and styles. One could even say that the level of material refinement borders on the perverse. As an opposing strategy to the saturation of image production in contemporary culture, the small format works as a seductive resource that forces the viewer to pay exclusive attention to the details.
Drawing from 19th-century symbolist French literature, Elespe explores the concept of violence in art and transcendence in time, as well as the role of chance and chaos in the creative process. His interest in decadence comes not only from literature, but mainly from its continuing relevance. Decadence, indeed, can be seen as a substrate from which modern and contemporary art silently feed.
