Roots are important.
Everything ends with death, but in the middle there is life, hidden under soil, noise and silence, feelings and emotions.
Sporadic bursts of beauty and then the misery of artificial ruins made by man.
The path goes as follows: beauty, ruins, reconstruction into something more useful, supposedly.
The geography of the world always changes and, in Sao Paulo, we have an idea of how quickly so, and which is perhaps excessive, following the investigative journeys of Daniel Caballero.
The need to build something new, man's divine delirium for changing the landscape for a better life, occupying space, creating chasms in the earth, stirring, disconcerting and removing points of geographical reference.
The irresistible urge for destruction stems from a delusional attitude when interpreting the world.
Throughout this process, the lack of geography, the continous reconstruction of nature, reflect the "superhuman" will to dominate.
To dominate a nature that is apparently tamed, despite its magnificent omnipresence.
Death is included in the process, like the roots, which apparently are not well rooted in the deep earth, but thrive on the surface.
So you change the view of the pedestrian that coexists with a built, "concrete" nature.
This visual (and aural) shock has become the norm in São Paulo, documented in Daniel's ephemeral paintings.
Drawings that contemplate nature with a disenchanted (almost distant) gaze, a contemporary view of the concrete.
In his observations, Caballero was inspired by the early naturalists who observed nature with an analytical curiousity, cataloging the various (naturally wild) species.
And now?
The naturalness of nature is changing.
In the city you will find a new landscape with new woods, rocks and natural elements placed by man.
Landscapes of cement - mountains.
New perspectives that are lost in a horizon that eventually no longer exists since a flora full of new plants is created: building-trees.
A forest that takes your breath away.
The reality of the noisy city is recreated from a "tabula rasa", a white wall.
This is where it all begins, in silence at the beginning, with much care, with an unclear line, then something happens, the paintbrush is coated with black varnish and everything becomes confusing, almost violent in its form.
The brightness of the white is stained with dirt from the ruins, stones, wooden planks and semi destroyed walls that still stand in balance, threatening to fall at any time.
It is a violent process that creates a sinuous movement, mixed with the physical earth.
Daniel enters, putting his own body inside of his painting, being almost swallowed by the wall and rocks, creating in the end new ephemeral landscapes that follow their evolution into something different, presumably better.
The visual, perhaps emotional violence that the city transmits with these unexpected changes are re-created by Daniel when he paints.
It seems that he is part of the process of destruction, he changes everything, and leaves us with a new vision of reality.
Maybe all of this will help us to simply perceive the mechanisms we create collectively walking through ourselves.
