“Memoria” an exhibition by Pablo Salvador at Peres Projects, Berlin, on view until June 8th

Salvador’s new works tell stories of circulation, transformation, and convergence. His expansive landscapes, populated with voyagers and a diverse bestiary, embark the viewer on a journey that extends far beyond any individual’s orientation in time and space. In several instances throughout the exhibition, his characteristic metaphysical backgrounds, in which overlapping planes of color create multiple horizons suggestive of the multiple dimensions of existence, develop into seascapes. Reminiscent of the coastline of his hometown of Lima, they also gesture to mythological odysseys, and historical and contemporary narratives of migration. Carving singular pathways through time and space, Salvador’s paintings dissolve linear and flat perspectives in favor of multilayered and multidirectional ones, rendered by his virtuosic use of colors, lines, and planes. Inspired by disparate sources such as Andean cosmology and culture and the canon of Western art, the works speak simultaneously to Salvador’s diasporic experience, the tangling of cultures that make up present-day Peru, and the arts made in today’s global context. While referencing Indigenous myths, traditions, and craftsmanship, Salvador infuses each motif with new meanings, thus weaving polysemous narratives ripe with both personal and universal resonances.