www.anibalvallejo.com

LIMBO

Solo Show
El Coleccionista Galería
Medellin

Installation View / Photo by El Coleccionista Galería

LIMBO: FIGURE, SPACE, AND THE THRESHOLD OF THE UNDEFINED

Limbo is a state of suspension, an in-between space where the figure dissolves, and meaning remains in constant transformation. In this series, the work unfolds within an ambiguous territory, exploring the limits between presence and absence, between recognizable form and its dissolution into abstraction. The human figure, a recurring element in artistic tradition, is brought here to a breaking point: disintegrated, reconfigured, suspended at a threshold where it ceases to be a subject and becomes an echo of itself.

In these new pieces, limbo is both a concept and a pictorial process. The relationship between figure and background becomes a dialectic of disappearance and emergence, where the image is not absolutely defined but fluctuates within the pictorial space like a vestige in transformation. The compositions oscillate between presence and evanescence, immersing the viewer in a visual experience that challenges the stability of form and compels them to reconstruct their perception of the image.

Historically, the concept of limbo has shifted between various interpretations: in religious tradition, it has been a place of waiting and exclusion, a space inhabited by souls unable to reach either punishment or redemption. In philosophy, it is associated with existential uncertainty, suspended time, and the anguish of transition. In psychology, it manifests as an emotional state of stagnation, mourning, or the redefinition of identity. In each of these realms, limbo represents a border condition, a zone of passage that offers no definitive answers but rather open questions about being and its relationship to its surroundings.

Color, a fundamental narrative element, acts as a rarefied atmosphere that reinforces the sensation of suspension. Tonal transitions and veiled contrasts evoke the altered perception of time in limbo: a dilated present, a space of waiting where the figure appears trapped at its own threshold. In this sense, Limbo aligns with artistic and literary traditions that depict this state as a geography of uncertainty, a territory where identity fades, and the viewer is invited to complete the image through their own subjectivity.

Beyond its conceptual exploration, the work confronts us with a profoundly human sensation: being suspended in a state of transformation, at the edge of the known and the yet-to-be-revealed. In limbo, painting becomes a space of transit and possibility, where uncertainty is not merely a void but a form of existence in itself.

THE CHAIR AND THE ABSENT BODY

A central piece in the Limbo exhibition, this work materializes the tension between presence and dissolution that runs throughout the series. Resting on an old study chair—an object laden with memory and contemplation—the suggestion of a body emerges, a fragmented figure oscillating between construction and collapse. As in his paintings, Vallejo blurs the boundaries between form and void, allowing the figure to merge with the space that sustains it.

This piece is embedded in an exploration of the unfinished and the humility of materials. In the spirit of Arte Povera, Vallejo leaves the materials exposed, revealing their structure: bare wires, expanded foam, loose threads. These materials, which frequently appear in his paintings, function here as remnants of an ongoing process. The artist’s intervention does not seek to erase the traces of its making but rather to amplify them, allowing each element to retain its own voice. Thus, the piece is not merely a representation but also a record of a transitional state.

In Limbo, the figure is never absolutely defined; instead, it hovers on the threshold of its own disappearance. Here, chair and body become a single entity, an assemblage where the space of contemplation transforms into the body of the artwork. The piece captures that moment of suspension, inviting the viewer to complete it through their own perception of transition, absence, and identity in flux.

INSTALLATION VIEWS