Maps have always represented, translated and codified all kinds of territories: physical, mental and emotional.
If we are able to recognize the limits of modern cartography, with its utopian accuracy and all its science, if we accept the fact that the perfect map has already been drawn, built, abandoned and turned into compost of those cities or spaces it aspired to represent, then we can glimpse a new territory for maps: one that emerges in the realm of fiction and the fragmentary, of the poetic and the conceptual, of the personal and the psychological.
Inaugurated this Thursday, August 21 at the gallery El Apartamento, NOWHERE is the most recent project by artist Yornel J. Martínez Elías in which he brings together a group of works or "poetic and conceptual cartographies" that for years have been one of the main obsessions in his work.
The exhibition proposes a journey, a drift through space. Following a conceptual logic, the artist draws a map -arbitrary, subjective and incomplete, like all maps- that invites us to question ourselves about the systems of representation we use and the underlying notions. A series of cartographies created in different media, installations, drawings, artbooks, videos, that function as a possibility to imagine a different metaphorical repertoire, an attempt to subvert the cartographic language.
views of the exhibition
works
Yornel Martinez No Man's Land, 2019 Collage-box 25 x 160 cm (9.8 x 63 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez No Man's Land, 2019 Collage-box 25 x 160 cm (9.8 x 63 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez The memory of a foreign country, 2018 Installation / Collection of objects Variable dimensions
Yornel Martinez The memory of a foreign country, 2018 Installation / Collection of objects Variable dimensions
Yornel Martinez Fifty miles from nowhere, 2025 Polyvinyl adhesive paper on walls Variable dimensions
Yornel Martinez Fifty miles from nowhere, 2025 Polyvinyl adhesive paper on walls Variable dimensions
Yornel Martinez Untitled (Rivers and Borders), 2019 Site specific / Ink drawing on wall Variable dimensions
Yornel Martinez Untitled (Rivers and Borders), 2019 Site specific / Ink drawing on wall Variable dimensions
Yornel Martinez Terra ignota, 2018-2023 Video installation
Yornel Martinez Terra ignota, 2018-2023 Video installation
Yornel Martinez Atlas, 2014 Artist's book 45 x 50 cm (17.7 x 19.7 in) (closed) Artist's proof
Yornel Martinez Atlas, 2014 Artist's book 45 x 50 cm (17.7 x 19.7 in) (closed) Artist's proof
Yornel Martinez Non-place, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Thawing, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Non-place, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Thawing, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Geography as an exquisite corpse, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Balloon, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Geography as an exquisite corpse, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Balloon, 2015 Watercolor on cardboard 75 x 50 cm (29.5 x 19.7 in) Unique work
Yornel Martinez Parentheses, 2017 Inkjet printing on canvas 160 x 190 cm (63 x 74.8 in) Edition of 3
Yornel Martinez Islario, 2017 Inkjet printing on canvas 160 x 190 cm (63 x 74.8 in) Edition of 3
Yornel Martinez Wor(l)d, 2017 Inkjet printing on canvas 160 x 190 cm (63 x 74.8 in) Edition of 3
Yornel Martinez Parentheses, 2017 Inkjet printing on canvas 160 x 190 cm (63 x 74.8 in) Edition of 3
Yornel Martinez Islario, 2017 Inkjet printing on canvas 160 x 190 cm (63 x 74.8 in) Edition of 3
Yornel Martinez Wor(l)d, 2017 Inkjet printing on canvas 160 x 190 cm (63 x 74.8 in) Edition of 3
Yornel Martinez The Pure Land, 2014 Installation Variable dimensions Artist's proof
Yornel Martinez The Pure Land, 2014 Installation Variable dimensions Artist's proof