{"id":948105,"date":"2026-07-20T19:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/948105\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:54:27","slug":"presence-memory-and-time-merge-in-the-surreal-works-of-architects-of-absence-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/948105\/","title":{"rendered":"Presence, Memory, and Time Merge in the Surreal Works of ‘Architects of Absence’ \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNothingness lies coiled in the heart of being,\u201d philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre posited in Being and Nothingness, published in 1943. It\u2019s in this book that he also shares an anecdote about stepping into a cafe, where he was to meet a friend. In scanning the room with its other patrons, furniture, and noise, he was tuned into the fact that his friend was not there, an experience infused with an acute awareness<\/a>\u2014an absence that transformed into a kind of presence.<\/p>\n

Architects of Absence, a group exhibition at Gallery Wendi Norris<\/a>, plumbs this dialogue between two seemingly contradictory elements. Colossal readers may recognize the work of Dabin Ahn<\/a>, Selva Aparicio<\/a>, and Remedios Varo<\/a> (1908-1963) alongside Marcel Jean (1900-1993) and Yaxkin Fuentes-Barrientos. The latter is currently artist-in-residence at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Martin House<\/a> in Buffalo, New York, where she sources disused clay roof tiles on which she then carved fallen leaves.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Dabin Ahn, \u201cNocturne IV\u201d (2026), oil on linen over panel, jasper, brass, adhesive, camphor, and sapele in walnut artist\u2019s frame, 13 x 11 inches<\/p>\n

Through surreal compositions in a variety of media, including Fuentes-Barrientos\u2019 architectural graphite drawings and oil paintings and Ahn\u2019s dreamy meditations on loss and the passage of time, viewers are invited to reflect upon the nature of not only presence in a physical sense but also the emotional and psychological sense of being present. Silhouettes, cutouts, buildings and sky, and light and shadow assemble into symbolic motifs of remembrance and visibility.<\/p>\n

The gallery says, \u201cWhether investigating the psychic, mythic, and alchemical realms of the imagination, documenting the material remnants of industrial and biological change, or harnessing loss and memory into resonant forms, their works map the absences that define reality.<\/p>\n

Architects of Absence continues through August 29 in San Francisco. <\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Yaxkin Fuentes-Barrientos, \u201cDormant Pulpits\u201d (2026), oil and pastel on linen, 24 x 30 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Dabin Ahn, \u201cTorso (Full Moon)\u201d (2026), oil on linen over panel, mother of pearl inlay, cast resin, and hardware, 32 x 12 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Selva Aparicio, \u201cRoof Traces II\u201d (2026), carved clay roof tiles, courtesy of Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s Martin House, Buffalo, New York, 12 x 6 x 1\/2 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Marcel Jean, \u201cConductibilit\u00e9 des roches m\u00e8res\u201d (1974), gouache and flottage on Masonite, 7 1\/4 x 8 5\/8 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Dabin Ahn, \u201cGolden Days (Animated)\u201d (2026), oil on linen over panel, plexiglass, single-board computer, LCD display with video, cables, power supply, hardware, and walnut, 15 3\/4 x 9 1\/2 inches<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Yaxkin Fuentes-Barrientos, \u201cSpirit of the Beehive\u201d (2026), ink on found paper, 10 x 13 1\/2 inches (framed)<\/p>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you?<\/strong> Become a Colossal Member<\/a> now, and support independent arts publishing.<\/p>\n