Blue Statement

by Valentina Eyzaguirre, Chile / United Kingdom (2019 Resident)

​Experiences charge already known objects and places with new meaning.  

That is what happened to the knowledge I had of the colour ultramarine blue, specifically of the International Klein Blue version, while participating in L’AiR Arts residency program. There, in Montparnasse, where that particular version was created, it struck me in an intense way, as if I was seeing it for the very first time. Suddenly I was noticing it all around Paris, breathing the idea behind Yves Klein’s spiritual pursuit through his colour blue.  

I have been a victim of that hypnotic blue hue... Does it have something to reveal to me, to us, to art? Something that I set myself to find out, and in the process I have been using ultramarine blue pigment to paint monochromes on paper, which I glue together and pierce afterwards. The shape of those holes represent organs. Abstract ultramarine blue organs made out of layers of torn paper.  

That blue is the vehicle with which to navigate into yourself. That blue is the colour of home.  

Blue is indeed the colour of our world. Blue is the colour of the sea and the sky. Blue represents the infinite and the great beyond. Blue is a sacred colour. Blue is the colour of memory, of dreams, of nostalgia.

Paris est Bleu series, Valentina Eyzaguirre for Site Visit exhibition