DONDE COMEN DOS, COMEN TRES
Donde comen dos, comen tres / Where two can eat, three can eat is an artist calendar that portrays the oppressive scarcity of the rationed food distributed over the course of a year at a bodega (grocery store) in Cuba. Rationing is controlled by the Cuban government through the implementation of a Libreta de Abastecimiento ("Supplies Booklet"), which is assigned to every household. In this way, the system establishes the amounts of subsidized rations that each household is allowed to receive according to its number of members, along with the frequency at which supplies can be obtained. Voicing these daily struggles of Cuban families, the calendar is composed of six individual wooden cutting boards customized by the artist whose shapes recall the silhouette of a house. On each cutting board, an image transfer of a graphic chart is displayed showing the number of supplies given to a family of three over a two month period. These charts are extracted from an original Supplies Booklet (2021) belonging to one of the artist's friends who currently lives in Cuba.
Creating wooden boards meant for cutting food adds an element of irony that is revealed after reading the chart information while not having any food to cut. This effect purposely mirrors the shortage of quantity and variety in food supplies available on the island. Although the prices of rationed items are low, often costing only a few cents, most Cubans have to supplement their supplies at higher-priced stores where only a few people can afford. Through the application of the photo transfer technique, each board becomes a unique piece embracing the physical imperfections of the Supplies Booklet that are created by production, use, and time. As the title suggests, Donde comen dos, comen tres / Where two can eat, three can eat not only contemplates the struggles of living under an oppressive system but also the humility and hospitality of its people who with little can always make room for one more.
2022
ADIÓS
Inspired by the loss of Linares’ beloved paternal grandfather, Adiós / Goodbye submerges in the reflections on life and its endless transformation cycles beyond death. The piece is composed of two different objects: a glass sphere, and an artist book. Together, these objects rest on a sculptural-like pedestal made out of fiberboard.
The sphere, which represents the life form of a drop of water, when carefully opened by pulling each of its halves in opposite directions, reveals a series of beautifully interconnected circular cut out papers. These handmade treated papers, each with a unique abstract marble effect, allude not only to the representation of particles and small life forms in the water, but also to the ashes of the artist’s paternal grandfather, spread on the sea as he returns to his new home.
Providing context and closure to the work, the artist book, which is the object that gives the title Adiós to the piece, opens its pages like a window. In contrast with its dark exterior, the interior reveals a pop of blue colors given by the marble paper effect of its end-papers. Inside, an original poem written by Linares in two languages, Spanish and English, speaks about the past and present. The text in Spanish captures the memories that she experienced with her grandfather when he was alive; what he’s not anymore. The text in English talks about what he has transformed into: the sea, what he is now.
Adiós tries to elevate not only the sadness of a loss, but the transformation and/or change of human nature, where, although fragile, endures in time and space.
“God is an intelligible sphere, whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere.” (From the essay Pascal’s Sphere by Jorge Luis Borges)
2021
BREATH AS ONE CONNECTION
With a transparent plexiglass cover containing a circle shape that evokes the moon, Breath As One Connection is an artist book that talks about motherhood. Intentionally, the book was structurally thought to have nine exact signatures in order to portray the length of the stages of pregnancy. In each signature, a combination of transparent and opaque pages blend in a unique playful mixture of revealing and covering.
To simulate hair, fine delicate lines made out of graphite appear drawn on handmade beeswax paper in different shapes, which dance and tangle like threads that go from simple to complex. Using the element of the hair as the main motif throughout the book helps to metaphorically represent the material and spiritual connection between mother and child. The transparency and yellowish color of the beeswax pages reminds one of skin, creating a fleshy effect when layered on top of each other. They subtly allow visibility to the hand transferred text on the white pages in between, making them look trapped within the line drawings.
Originally written by the artist, the poem/text opens with the word “Inside” and closes with the word “Outside”, as if voiced by an unborn offspring from the womb during its stages of development. Such words, like feel, matter, breath, fragments, moon, hair, and sheets, pop out during interaction while strongly enhancing the intricate narrative of a motherly interconnection.
2021
INSIGHTS
Insights brings a new perception of the world around us from an intimate and poetic point of view. The book works like a lexicon through the relationship between image and word. The accordion-fold design enhances the duality and contrast of two worlds: the inner and the outer. The photographs selected are part of an ongoing series titled Collected Memories.
2017
THE BODY
The Body is a handmade illuminated manuscript that portrays different parts of the human body as a species of visual “lexicon”. As if learning from a child’s book, each page reinvents in a surreal way our notion of a determined part of our body.
2017
