1982 / Pastel / 13 x 13 cm / Artist: Glenn Bautista / Private collection

In the late 1970s the imagery of Bautista’s art shifted from the religious to the surreal, as in this small pastel work in square format. Despite the small dimensions of this landscape, its intense concentration links microcosm to macrocosm. In this image of mystical evocation, the ancient past and the interplanetary future converge, as they reveal an underlying similarity of structures. The winding and tortuous mountain trails of what seems like an abandoned sky city of the Andes, Macchu Picchu, perhaps find a contemporary echo in the elaborate system of gas pipelines in a highly industrialized region, like the Ruhr in Central Europe, which the artist visited in his travels.

Perspective is elaborated into a contrapuntal network of lines that touch at points, separate, and recede in an irregular zigzagging movement. On the one hand, the images of ancient cities and ghost trails in mountain fortresses include organic allusions to strong and ancient roots. On the other hand, the images of industrial pipelines convey in their formidable metallic structures a latent protest against the concept of Western progress and the human toll that it exacts. The aura of this work, spiritual or magical, stems from the exquisite control of light and tone; it is remarkable how a large tonal range can be accommodated within its small square format.