Mareo Rodríguez’s digital exhibition Portals at Load gallery
The Load gallery is proud to present the debut of Mareo Rodríguez’s solo digital exhibition, Portals, a profound exploration of the landscape as a source of spiritual contemplation. Mareo Rodríguez, an artist and architect, approaches his art with a deep focus on capturing the essence of the natural world and reimagining it as a portal to spiritual experiences. His method is rooted in minimalist aesthetics and precise geometric control, creating a transformative space for contemplation.
Mareo’s Portals series is marked by a monochrome palette, stripped of extraneous detail, and meticulously manipulated to emphasize light and shadow. His art draws the viewer into a quiet introspective journey, turning light itself into a central element that invokes a sense of awakening. With every fissure and crack, Rodríguez encourages viewers to peer into the void and confront the unspoken depths within.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, Rodríguez combines digital media, painting, sculpture, and installation, reinterpreting natural landscapes to echo the human experience. He uses organic motifs—cracks, wavy lines, and fissures—as metaphors for personal rupture, resilience, and growth. These elements reflect the topography of both nature and human life, symbolizing journeys through pain, healing, and eventual transformation. As Rumi famously said, “The wound is the place where the Light enters you,” and this philosophy echoes throughout Rodríguez’s work, urging viewers to seek illumination through their own “cracks.”
Rodríguez pays homage to nature, merging abstract landscape forms with spiritual inquiry. He explores the interplay between “Matter” as the earthly realm and “Light” as an ethereal pursuit, creating a dialogue between these realms. This dynamic fuels his art, as he sees natural forms like mountains and stones as condensed light, continually evolving across eras. The merging of matter and light within Portals becomes a symbolic encounter of the physical and the sacred, where viewers are invited to witness the eternal tension between the tangible and the divine.
Mareo Rodríguez finds inspiration in the works of Lucio Fontana, Anish Kapoor, and Pierre Soulages, artists known for exploring themes of rupture, emptiness, and transformation. Fontana’s concept of the “cut” has notably influenced Rodríguez’s practice, as he perceives such gestures as opening endless possibilities. Kapoor’s work with voids and reflective surfaces and Soulages’ illumination within darkness further resonate within Rodríguez’s vision, enriching the contemplative dimensions of Portals.
For the first time, Portals is presented in a fully digital format, with an LED sculpture bringing a physical presence to the exhibition. The Load gallery aims to create an immersive environment by filling the space with a dense fog and a subtle, natural scent that grounds the ethereal themes of Portals in sensory experience. This multisensory setting amplifies the exhibition’s central message of transformation, inviting viewers to traverse the cracks within both external and internal landscapes.
Load gallery founder Alex Simorré describes the exhibition as a journey through landscapes where light symbolizes renewal. He notes that Portals transforms fractures into channels of resilience, guiding viewers to rediscover themselves through spaces where nature, art, and technology converge.
Portals will run from 31 October to 7 December at the Load gallery, carrer Llull 134, Barcelona, Spain.
All images courtesy of Load Gallery, shared with permission
