Jesus Flores: Siete lagrimas por mi madre [Seven Tears for My Mother] (April 4 - 10, 2010),

7 "paintings" made from colored tissue paper, one-per-day for a week

Flores did this project in honor of his mother, who was gravely ill, and who, until shortly before the project started, had lived in an apartment not far from Triple Candie. The project consisted of seven "paintings", created one-a-day for seven days. Flores arrived at the gallery each morning at daybreak and made each work before the people in the neighborhood were up and out; he didn't want people to see him working -- he wanted the works to appear and disappear almost as if by magic, without explanation.

While clearly alluding to various modes of "modernist abstract" (and their spiritual associations), Flores' "paintings" stress fragmentation and ephemerality. The patchwork application of the tissue paper and the way the artist used tape suggested a ravaged body barely holding itself together after countless surgeries. (Note that the English translation of the work's title plays on the double-reading of the word "tears".) Flores' mother died ten days after the project was completed.

About the Artist

Jesus Flores (b. 1986) is a New York City-born artist currently living in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His work generally takes the form of temporary visual interventions -- chalk murals, posters, or discreet common-object sculptures. He holds a BFA from the Escuela de Artes Plasticas de Puerto Rico. This is his first public project in the United States.