Another imagination Jordi Ortiz

The 60 images making up this exhibition by Jordi Ortiz, titled Imaginació (Imagination), provoke many questions. In the images of the tree trunks photographed in our city, Barcelona, we witness a world of forms unfold which surprise us because we ask ourselves “But, where was all this?” And we ask ourselves this because we had never seen them before. We come to a stop before these images which captivate us.

The bark of the tree trunks shows diverse characteristics: mouldy, rough; in the colours, the uniformity of browns or greys alternates with yellows and purples, blues and a rich spectrum of greens. Sometimes we feel we are contemplating a restricted landscape; in others, however, we see a vast landscape from an aerial point of view. On occasions, the bark opens and allows us to see what is underneath, which appears in another colour, suggest- ing that we can advance towards further interior layers. Shadows or reflections of the leaves seem to flutter in the breeze. The bumps multiply, small at times, others thicker. And suddenly we see a figure fighting like a warrior wearing a tall conical helmet; also, a face that emerges from the bark, but it is not possible to make out if it is hu- man or not. Other figures can be made out which seem not to be human, but which remain figures, like that one where the head has no face and the torso is, on the other hand, a large face, and the lower part is covered with a long, floor-length skirt. And, especially, we see eyes, many eyes, which cannot be mistaken for bumps, because they look at us very intently. At times it is a single eye, other times it is several, dispersed, sown, like the eyes we have seen in the seraphims’ and cherubims’ wings. All of these figures, whether it be a full figure or only an organ, are somewhat spectral. I would say they “transparecen” (“transpire”) because they seem to arise directly from the bark, and they do so in reality without flesh or body, not even apparent. From them, there seem to arise “secret voices”, those referred to by Gérard de Nerval, and that emerge from plants, trees, animals and even the lowliest insects. Nature itself seems to be calling to us to decipher its hieroglyphics, convincing us that everything necessarily has to have a reason, and that everything has to be “explained”. This “infinite figurability” which fas- cinates and attracts us, holds a mystery that cannot be dissimulated. It is the mystery of the imagination.

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