“Al alcance de su mano” (within fingertip’s reach) is an advertising phrase commonly used that creates the illusion in potential consumers that the product could be theirs; that they have the financial power to acquire it. When analyzed literally, the expression suggests a physical image in which the human body is taken as a measurement for objects at a distance within reach.
Distance and touch are two key elements to both this exhibition and the historical moment to which it refers. Between 1960 and 1963, the Deutsches Museum in Munich undertook the reproduction of a section of the ceiling of Altamira -the iconic cave situated in northern Spain- that was exhibited in the Department for Early Chemical Developments until its dismantling in 2022. This was the first life-size reproduction of Paleolithic depictions and, in many ways, it anticipated the future consumption of such sites and experiences.
At a similar point in time, the Spanish cigarette brand Bisonte had transformed one of the famous bison paintings into its logo. This created a close association for those who would recognize the animal in the cave from the image they were carrying in their pockets, consequently reversing the logical order of identification. The cigarettes were advertised with the sentence “a pleasure at fingertip’s reach” (un placer al alcance de su mano).
In this exhibition, soft and careful touch appears in contrast to more destructive and irreversible injections of materials into others. The central piece imitates a rock formation by pulling plaster with a metal stencil, a traditional technique used for stucco profiles. Natural elements, such as foliage or stone have been motifs often employed in decorative techniques and embedded in architecture throughout history.
Plaster, as a material, creates a bridge between stucco practices and molding techniques therefore, imbricating reproduction, preservation and ornamentation into one.
