Felix Rios (Velvet II)* - English Version

 

Photo: Steven Salgado

In my architecture exegesis, I speak only of music.

I don’t know the notes, but architecture,

like music, is time and space,

an art of successive sensations brought into a symphony. 

Le Corbusier 

The exhibit Symphony (Velvet II) is the result of the intense study that Felix Rios (Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 1968) undertook several years ago on Le Corbusier’s theories of architectural color, set forth in his book Polychromie Architecturale. For this pioneer of modernity, architecture was not merely a technical or aesthetic exercise, but a discipline aimed at satisfying the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of those who inhabited the spaces. Following this philosophy, in Polychromie Architecturale Le Corbusier proposed a palette conceived not only to beautify the areas, but to generate emotions and perceptions that would make them more harmonious and comfortable. 

Concrete Composition A (V_II) #01, 2025. Acrylic on canvas. 47.25 x 47.25 in.

Velvet II is one of the thirteen 'colored keyboards' created by Le Corbusier in 1931. These keyboards consist of a series of fourteen pure tones inspired by nature (pinks, greens, blues and oranges), complemented by three neutral tones. Their purpose was to generate chromatic combinations that, like melodies, evoke emotional atmospheres. On the pages of the book, the keyboards are arranged with the fourteen pure tones in the center, surrounded by the neutrals. Le Corbusier systematized the possible combinations by means of templates with windows that make it possible to visualize and group colors in harmony. By sliding these templates over the pages, multiple combinations associated with particular emotional moods are revealed.

Concrete Composition B (V_II) #05, #01, #04, #02, 2024. Acrylic on canvas. 51.18 x 39.37 in. c/u

The thought and work of the great Swiss-French architect has profoundly inspired Felix Rios’ practice. While the awareness of architectural space has been present in many of his previous series, in the works that make up this exhibition, Rios approaches Le Corbusier not only through his fascinating colors, but in his constant reflection on beauty—understood as a mystery that, hidden within form, deeply moves the spirit. For this reason, it is not surprising that in this series, Rios turned to the Fibonacci Sequence—a numerical progression in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, and whose structure establishes a fascinating and harmonious relationship—to determine not only the dimensions of the works and the number of pieces comprising the series, but also the arrangement of the color fields on each canvas. This “formula of beauty,” in which mathematics, art, and nature intertwine, rests on a tension that harmonizes sensitivity with rigor, emotion with reason. The exhibition is, therefore, a kind of minimalist symphony in which each group of works could correspond to a movement, and where the artist’s intervention has been minimized through the systematizations derived from Fibonacci and Le Corbusier.

Concrete Composition C (V_II) #09, #06, #01, 2025. Acrylic on canvas. 39.37 x 27.55 in. c/u

Rios is an explorer of the “transformative power of color,” of the ability each tone has to impact the external environment and, definitively, our physical, psychic, and subtle systems; of how each color is relativized, and ultimately, of how each tone contains a mystery within itself. For Ríos, the meaning of these pieces lies in the invitation they extend to immerse ourselves in the act of seeing—experiencing, slowly and deliberately, each field of color, each subtle vibration arising from the meeting of two planes, each balance, and each combination. Ultimately, it is about allowing ourselves to be seduced by beauty and letting its contemplation become a transformative experience.

 © Katherine Chacón

Photo: Stephen Morris

Felix Rios studied Architectural Drawing in Puerto Rico and Interior Design in Miami. He has presented two solo exhibitions: "Colors, Shapes, and Forms" at Laundromat Art Space (Miami, 2023) and "Rhythms" at Imago Art Gallery (Coral Gables, 2021). His work has also been featured in notable group exhibitions at Miami International Fine Arts (Miami), Sala de Exposiciones del Plata (Dorado, PR), Laundromat Art Space, and Galería Petrus (San Juan, PR). Rios’ artwork is part of the permanent collection of Sabanera Health in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico.

Images from the exhibition (Credits: Steven Salgado):

 * This text was originally written for the exhibit of the same name curated by me and held in Imago Cultural Center, in Miami, from January 1st, 2025 to March 23rd, 2025. 

Felix Rios (Velvet II) *

 

Foto: Steven Salgado

En mi exégesis de la arquitectura hablo sólo de música.

No conozco las notas, pero la arquitectura,

como la música, es tiempo y espacio,

un arte de sensaciones sucesivas llevadas a una sinfonía. 

Le Corbusier 

La exposición Symphony (Velvet II) es el resultado del intenso estudio que Felix Rios (Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 1968) emprendió hace varios años en torno a las teorías del color arquitectónico de Le Corbusier, expuestas en su libro Polychromie Architecturale. Para este pionero de la modernidad, la arquitectura no era simplemente un ejercicio técnico o estético, sino una disciplina destinada a satisfacer las necesidades físicas, emocionales y espirituales de quienes habitaban los espacios. Siguiendo esta filosofía, en Polychromie Architecturale Le Corbusier propone una paleta concebida no sólo para embellecer las áreas, sino para generar emociones y percepciones que las hicieran más armoniosas y confortables.

Concrete Composition A (V_II) #01, 2025. Acrílico sobre tela. 120 x 120 cm

Velvet II es uno de los trece ‘teclados de colores’ creados por Le Corbusier en 1931. Estos teclados consisten en una serie de catorce tonos puros inspirados en la naturaleza (rosas, verdes, azules y naranjas), complementados por tres tonos neutros. Su propósito era generar combinaciones cromáticas que, como melodías, evocaran atmósferas emocionales. En las páginas del libro, los teclados están dispuestos con los catorce tonos puros al centro, rodeados por los neutros. Le Corbusier sistematizó las combinaciones posibles mediante plantillas con ventanas que permiten visualizar y agrupar colores en armonía. Al deslizar estas plantillas sobre las páginas, se descubren múltiples combinaciones asociadas a estados anímicos particulares.

Concrete Composition B (V_II) #05, #01, #04, #02, 2024. Acrílico sobre tela. 130 x 100 cm c/u

El pensamiento y obra del gran arquitecto suizo-francés ha inspirado profundamente la práctica de Felix Rios. Si bien la conciencia del espacio arquitectónico ha estado presente en muchas de sus series anteriores, en las obras que conforman esta muestra, Rios se acerca a Le Corbusier no sólo a través de sus fascinantes colores, sino en su constante reflexión sobre la belleza, entendiendo esta cualidad como un misterio que, oculto en la forma, mueve hondamente el espíritu. Por ello, no es sorprendente que en esta serie haya acudido a la Sucesión de Fibonacci –una secuencia numérica en la que cada cifra es la suma de las dos anteriores, y cuya figuración establece una relación fascinante y armoniosa– para establecer no sólo las dimensiones de las obras y el número de piezas que componen la serie, sino la disposición de los campos de color en cada lienzo. Esta "fórmula de la belleza", en la que se entrelazan la matemática, el arte y la naturaleza, se sostiene sobre una tensión que armoniza la sensibilidad con el rigor, la emoción con la razón. La muestra es, entonces, una especie de sinfonía minimalista en el que cada grupo de obras pudiera corresponder a un movimiento, y en la que la intervención del artista ha sido reducida al mínimo a través de las sistematizaciones derivadas de Fibonacci y Le Corbusier.

Concrete Composition C (V_II) #09, #06, #01, 2025. Acrílico sobre tela. 100 x 70 cm c/u

Rios es un explorador del “poder transformador del color”, de la capacidad que cada tono tiene para impactar el ambiente exterior y, definitivamente, nuestros sistemas físico, psíquico y sutil, de cómo cada color se relativiza, y en última instancia, de cómo cada tono encierra en sí un misterio. Para Ríos, el sentido de estas piezas radica en la invitación que hacen a sumergirnos en el mirar, vivenciando pausadamente cada campo de color, cada pequeña vibración surgida del encuentro de dos planos, cada balance y cada combinación. En fin, en dejarnos seducir por la belleza y permitir que su contemplación se convierta en una experiencia transformadora.

 © Katherine Chacón

Foto: Stephen Morris

Felix Rios (Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 1968) estudió dibujo arquitectónico en Puerto Rico y diseño de interiores en Miami. Ha presentado dos exposiciones individuales: "Colors, Shapes, and Forms" en Laundromat Art Space (Miami, 2023) y "Rhythms" en Imago Art in Action (Coral Gables, 2021). Su obra también ha sido exhibida en destacadas exposiciones colectivas en MIFA-Miami International Fine Arts (Miami), Sala de Exposiciones del Plata (Dorado, PR), Laundromat Art Space y Galería Petrus (San Juan, PR). Sus obras forman parte de la colección permanente de Sabanera Health en Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico.

Imágenes de la exposición (Créditos: Steven Salgado):

 * Este texto fue escrito originalmente para presentar la exposición homónima curada por mí y realizada en el Centro Cultural Imago, en Miami, del 1 de enero de 2025 al 23 de marzo de 2025. 

Sandra Szkolnik. "Folds" (English version) *

 

This exhibition is the result of the methodical and constant investigation Sandra Szkolnik (Lima, Peru, 1968) has been carrying out for more than four years regarding the expressive possibilities of lines and volumes generated by straight folds.

Early on, Szkolnik was inspired by origami, but her interests were not directed at the construction of figures—as in the traditional Japanese technique—but to the behavior of the regular modules that are progressively created by folding.

Within this apparently simple—but certainly infinite—focus of exploration, the artist traced the routes of what would be the visual formulations of her creative practice. In this, research on materials has been fundamental. The triangular modules, the basis of her language, needed to acquire not only physical consistency but also to adequately express the artist's studied chromaticism. In addition, the flexibility of folds had to be manifested.

Additionally, Szkolnik's work updates the tensions established by flat and three-dimensional modular developments, as we see in her Folds, but also in her Unfolds, or in pieces such as Folded Connections, where the volume is barely tangible. 

Fold & Unfold/Black and White, 2023. Acrylic laminated, vinyl, and plexiglass.

Folded Connections/Canyon and Beige, 2023. Acrylic laminated, vinyl, and plexiglass

Szkolnik also incorporates a haptic game between real and suggested possibilities of the viewer's intervention. Although her first pieces were made so that spectators could arrange them “in their own way” using magnets on a flat surface—a device that is still used in her small-format production—, the artist has regulated this intervention in her later work, establishing tensions between the invitation to be manipulated generated by the folded forms and the real possibilities of manipulation. Although the Monochromatic Folds are attached with magnets, they only permit a minimal intervention; the Folded Modules or the sculptures titled Standing Folds are static volumes, mimetic folds that, nevertheless, maintain the dynamic potential of these tensioned bodies. The exhibition includes the piece Folds in Connected Panels, whose three-dimensional modules can be repositioned with respect to the flat slats in the background.

Monochromatic Folds (Ruby, Graphite and Deep Blue). 

All: 2002. Acrylic laminated, vinyl, plexiglass, stainless steel and magnets

Folded Modules (Silver and Blue/Blue, Silver and Red/Red, Silver and Red/Blue, and Silver and Red/Silver)

All: 2023. Acrylic laminate, vinyl, fiberglass and magnets.

Standing Folds/White and Orange, 2023. Acrylic laminate, vinyl, aluminum, and quartz

Standing Folds/White and Green, 2023. Acrylic laminate, vinyl, aluminum, and quartz

Szkolnik actualizes in her work a deep interest in constructing a grammar of space, in which volumetric and flat, visible and invisible, expanded and folded, multiplied and divided forms, would make up the signs to be interpreted.

In these reflections, the artist has incorporated the study of rhizomatic developments proposed by philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Her pieces are, in her words, “rhizomatic moments” in which there is neither a linear growth nor a center, but a tree-like and multiple progress that, in some way, relates them to the psychological, social and cultural realities of the contemporaneity.

* This text was originally written for the exhibition of the same name, curated by me and held at Imago Art in Action. Miami, September 9, 2023-January 7, 2024.  

© Katherine Chacón