In Of Islands and Unicorns, Mauricio Saenz reiterates the confrontation between what is thought to exist and what doesn’t, through the distorted vision of the distant. The artist calls attention to the relationship generated between our own immediate surroundings and those in the distance and the questions that arise from our inability to see beyond our own perspectives. To the artist, the idea of the “island” creates a panorama between two distant points, each one producing its own sense of reality and fiction, emphasizing the concept of isolation as a territory, where utopic thinking functions as ideology, limiting itself to what can be seen and that which is at hand.

In this manner, Saenz uses the myth of the unicorn to serve as an example of the imaginary condition exaggerating things seen from a distance, thus creating a fictitious reality and exoticism that is contrary to the belief that geography acts as the main catalyst for isolation. According to Saenz, it is the disintegration of the line between reality and myth that intensifies isolation.

Opening Reception: January 4, 6-9 p.m.

First Friday: January 5, 6-9 p.m.