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Kunsthaus
 Hey,
I’m not writing about Xavier Cortada just because he’s
an old friend from college. We recently reconnected
through his mangrove project and I can’t praise him
enough for his spiritual connection to nature, which he
has turned into a beautiful art form. This is a Miami
boy with an amazing vision.
At Kunsthaus, you can
see Xavier’s ice paintings, which he “painted” while on
tour of Antarctica. These paintings were literally made
from adding paint to ice core samples from the remotest
area of Antarctica. (As if Antarctica wasn’t already
remote?) While stationed at McMurdo Station, Xavier
created over a dozen works that, upon first impression,
look like abstract watercolors. As the ice melted,
Xavier treated the ice as a tool – brush, sponge and
pastel technique – and in the process, sediment from the
samples latched on to the paper. The effect is
stunning. You’re not just looking at a painting, but
literally a piece of our earth from many, many thousands
years ago.
As Xavier put it:
“I’m doing what nature does on a macro level, examining
the process.”
While in Antarctica,
Xavier also “planted” a mangrove seedling in the true
South Pole, which he estimates, will take over 150
thousand years to make landfall as the ice breaks and
melts and travels to some warmer coastal territory. The
gesture represents setting an intention for wholeness
and healing in the planet. We joked about how we’d have
to reincarnate and come back to see the mangrove take
root, but of course the gesture is symbolic. “It
represents cycles in nature and how all is connected.” |
