Although both skin and clay may appear as thin layers, they are not only surface but deep elements that, broadly, are the living and constant expression of the present.
Vicente Prieto Gaggero
Pottery is an art almost as old as humanity itself, bearing witness to the constant changes, advances and setbacks that the human species has faced, reacting and adapting to them. Just like the skin, which comes from the same foetal tissue as the brain, clay emerges from the primary - the earth -, and its elastic and resistant condition narrates our personal and collective history, retaining information and memory.
It is from the experience of having covered his skin with clay that Vicente Prieto Gaggero arrives at this reflection, creating particular experimentations that give form to thoughts and emotions awakened by contrasting new methodologies and the primitive expression of the material.
Like our pre-Columbian ancestors, the artist creates anthropomorphic ceramic pieces inspired by the work of the Mochica, Tolima and Veracruz cultures, among others. However, Prieto Gaggero formulates pieces that could well be human heads with cyborg mutations derived from commercial brands, political symbols, contemporary tools and artefacts, all part of a society centred on consumption and hypervigilance, evoking neo-pop and cyberpunk. And perhaps, in a not so distant future of our civilisation, these could be archaeological pieces that, like today, bear witness to our times.
