In Deforestation, Fran Pérez Rus creates the visualisation of a disaster which occurs in nature but is entirely unnatural. Experts estimate that 80 percent of the planet's natural forests have been destroyed to date, and the rest are disappearing at a rate of 13 million hectares per year. The primary culprit of this global deforestation is human activity: expanding pastures and farmlands, legal and illegal logging, mining, new rural settlements and, of course, forest fires started by accident or arsonists. Forests disappear as their trees are cut down or burned, but in many cases our good intentions make matters even worse by replacing them with artificial clumps of non-native species.The fragile, artificial nature of such forests is reflected in the 3D model created by Pérez Rus, an aseptic simulation that is paradoxically quite real insofar as it replicates the essence, if not the exact appearance, of the original.

The wood panels are not merely rigid support surfaces and the technique he uses is not just an effective way of transferring an image onto that surface, for both the material and the act of burning it add layers of meaning to the pieces. The cold, computer-modelled fire is made visible on the wood by a precise and, of course, hot burning tool; but the scorching heat, rather than making the tree disappear, sears it onto the surface as a permanent image. Moreover, one of these carvings directly refers to the found phrase by urging spectators to "save the trees", immortalising the exhortation on a piece of wood which was cut and burned for the sole purpose of conveying that message.

The contradictory relationship between support and content is also found in the Registros [Records] series, twelve prints on paper of logs modelled in 3D from photogrammetric data captures. This technique can replicate the texture of a surface by measuring numerous images of it, translating two-dimensional information into three-dimensions and generating a virtual object. In this way, the real logs are digitised and turned into intangible forms which nevertheless seem strangely tangible thanks to the meticulously detailed reproduction.

The exhibition catalogue features an essaay by Pau Waelder, entitled Save the trees (To Disk).

Artist Visit: 12 november, 12:30h.

Educational workshop: 12 november, 11:30 am to 13:00 pm