ALEXANDRE FARTO AKA VHILS

Latent takes its title from an optical phenomenon that occurs twice each year inside Palma Cathedral (La Seu), when the morning sunlight passing through the cathedral’s great rose window is projected onto the opposite wall, creating the image of a second rose window. For a few minutes, the building produces an image of itself: nothing is added; it simply reveals what was always there. This resonates closely with the artist’s own process. “I normally begin with an existing surface and remove, cut or break through its layers until something that was dormant becomes visible,” Alexandre Farto explains.

Bringing together several bodies of work developed over the years; carved doors, billboards, ceramic tile panels and architectural debris, the exhibition explores VHILS’ sustained engagement with architecture, material and memory. Salvaged from abandoned buildings, carved doors become faces; billboards, once carriers of advertising, are cut and torn until they behave like archaeological sites; ceramic tile panels draw on a tradition shared by Portugal and Mallorca, transforming an architectural material into portraiture; and fragments of demolished buildings are given back an expression.