CARLOS IRIJALBA
PAMPLONA, ESPAÑA / SPAIN, 1979
High tides (Mareas altas), 2013
Copia cromogénica sobre capafix / Chromogenic print on capafix board Tres piezas / Three panels, 110 x 146; 110 x 146 y 110 x 160 cm Instalación. Medidas variables / Installation. Dimensions variable Edición / Edition 4/5
Adquirido / Acquired 2014

In the late seventeenth Century, geologists became aware of the thickness of the Earth, and the fact that its age was to be counted in millions and not thousands of years, hence changing our perspective on time and history. A nomenclature was developed to describe periods of geological development, the latest of which being the Holocene. It is commonly admitted that we have recently entered a new period, the Anthropocene, wherein the major influence on the climate and geological evolution is human activity. The title of this work may refer to the rise of the sea level due to the melting of glaciers, which exemplifies this new era, and which has profound effects upon the evolution of the Earth. The triptych depicts a mass that appears to be both solid and liquid —materials in flux, while the juxtaposition of the images evokes a geological stratification, however this time engineered by humans— made with asphalt.