DESPEGUE BLANCO

• Country: Spain
• Category: Drawing
• Technique: Ink
• Measurements: 35.43 x 35.43 in
• At Artelista since: Sunday 28th of April 2024
• Tags: bird, horse, departure, wings, plane, roadrruner

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The drawing was created at a time when we were returning to Spain, in 2017, after the crisis, and after having lived 4 years in Chile. My desire to set up an architectural services company was strong and vigorous. And I had recently bought an office to set up the workshop. Everything was investment, optimism and illusion for a future, for a new dawn.

After many years of odd jobs, haunted by the ghosts of unemployment, it seemed that an era of economic stability had returned, the spirit was refreshing. It seemed, at least to me, like the beginning of a new era of prosperity. It was a taking off, a getting off the ground.

I travelled to Portugal every week. For work reasons, I would fly to Porto during the day. In the mornings and afternoons, I literally experienced taking off. Defeating gravity was a triumph every time the plane took off. It was the victory of power and the will to undertake. Breaking the barrier of the comfort zone that keeps us stuck to the ground. To soar to seek a new reality, a new tomorrow.

It was not only the turbines, it was also lunging to enter a phase of leaping into the void, it was a combination of pure animal leg. Quadrupedal gallop of the horse, bipedal run of the ostrich. And finally, the power was accompanied by the best human muscle.

The main engine and propulsion source of the aircraft is generated by an intestine installed in the fuselage, like a snake's. The digestive system releases powerful gases that are expelled by wind instruments, trumpets and horns. The digestive system releases powerful gases that are expelled by wind instruments, trumpets and horns.

The shark's fins on the plane represent the predatory character of the one who decides to undertake an ambitious flight. The wings become part of the fins. A hybrid, multi-purpose craft that can "navigate" in air and "water".

Faljano adds two classic twentieth-century animated characters. The Coyote and the Road Runner. They represent the spirit of those who are constantly on the move. Endlessly moving and running, and whose restlessness, pursuit and acceleration are in their nature.

Faljano also takes the opportunity to incorporate imaginary beings, reintroducing the "reality/fiction" duality already developed in the series Juxtaposition.

There is a second reading, which came years after the work was conceived. In a conversation with a good Mexican friend from Sonora, he explained to me: Airplanes made of metal paradoxically manage to rise, as if they were floating. This paradox is related to the greatest of the pre-Columbian American deities, the feathered serpent. In this case it is the feathered plane, whose tubular geometry is reminiscent of the body of a snake.

The feathered serpent is a symbol of the "struggle" of a conjunction of opposites, and at the same time, a union of antagonistic forces that find love. It is not surprising that humans have created such a beautiful synthesis and profound secrecy with these opposing powers (reptilian earth / bird and sky).

The drawing therefore represents a typical Derridean aporia. There is no winner and no loser, a place without hierarchies. On a plane always far from rationality. A case without logical solution. An impossibility. In which nothing is and everything is (at the same time).

The work is a biptych. When Faljano made the first draft, he was not clear about how to approach the contrasts, it seemed that it could be treated with a predominance of black or a predominance of white.

Finally, he makes a study with both versions, and without wanting to sacrifice one for the other, he finally decides to make both versions for the same theme.