Leonardo Eymil
Glass of a Prison / Cristal de una prisión
(Work created over the course of one year)
The piece, featuring a mirror covered with chewed gum arranged to form portraits in lines and fragments on its surface, offers a reflection on identity and impermanence. The mirror, traditionally an object that reflects our image, is transformed here into a space where the image is distorted and fragmented, concealed beneath the grotesque, sticky, and malleable substance of gum. This material, often associated with ephemerality and triviality, introduces a tension between fragility and permanence, suggesting that identity, like gum, is something constructed, adapted, and eventually dissolved.
The portraits emerging from this surface are presented as unfinished or incomplete versions of oneself, inviting the viewer to question notions of self-representation and authenticity in the age of the image. The gum's sticky texture also alludes to the interconnectedness of human experiences, caught in a game of desire, memory, and transience. Through this work, the artist delivers a biting commentary on the construction of identity in contemporary society, characterized by its superficiality and constant transformation.