ESTEBAN PATINO
ARTIST STATEMENT
This body of work aims to explore the possibilities of communication where structure and freeform, positive and negative, color and lack of, are ultimately codependent on each other in some form. My interest lies in the use of my symbols as a tool, not as a language, but a tool to examine and find the underlying structure that unites written and abstract form. The freeform pieces, with their looseness in process, were freer, less planned and come from my subconscious. However, it was this initial style that gave birth to the structural symbolic works I am mainly known for. The steel sculptures come from the same matrix but are then cut apart to become two separate complementary pieces. The wood pieces are specifically planned and developed from my own set of alphabetical symbols, providing a foundation for me to project a pattern of play and structural repetition. In all, this show gives testimony to a certain evolution, the possibilities, and the variables of the same theme.
Focusing primarily on language, how it’s created, how it’s perceived, and how arbitrary it can be, I’ve created my own system of symbols, my own alphabet. It’s linked with the concept of semiotics, the study of meaning-making, the study of sign processes and meaningful communication. This includes the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis).
My system has 6 characters, that rotate on their own axis 4 times to make a total 24, then flipped one of them to make a 25th. This is my “Rosetta stone” or decoder. With this shapes I aim to show structures of language, play with a visual language, creating speech bubbles, palindromes, heaps of language and different metaphors to represent how we understand written and the spoken language.
