Francisca Prieto - Underlined

Francisca's solo exhibition reveals a new series of works. In eight compositions Francisca presents the line, freeing its form from context and exploring its intrinsic significance. Francisca constructs the line using an array of forgotten ephemera, revealing beauty and meaning through angles and folds.

UNDERLINED reveals a new series of work from Francisca Prieto. In eight compositions Francisca presents the LINE, using its symbols and associations to govern her unique practice. The LINE has endless expressions: it divides; it measures; it joins; it slices apart and binds together, forming the most intrinsic and universal signs. Francisca abstracts eight recognisable linear forms and invites us to enjoy them for the simplicity of their composition. Enlarged and carefully constructed with Francisca’s treasure trove of ephemera, each is given a space that renders their obvious value forgotten.

In the ongoing ‘Between Folds’ series, Francisca seeks and exposes the beauty of forgotten print, such as broken books and redundant maps, creating artworks that reveal their hidden essence. In UNDERLINED Francisca begins with the structure, allowing her exploration into the construction of the LINE govern her choice of material. These new works see a shift in the powerful relationship between a building and its bricks; material becomes subordinate to composition and, what’s more, is made to work towards the communication of hidden threads of meaning.

In putting form first, Francisca invites us to consider meaning later; only once we have considered composition does she draw us closer with the angles of her folds. A closer look reveals meaning in the material used; each piece of ephemera chosen for its ability to express associations. ‘Composition No.1: A Diagonal Line’ is constructed from ‘The Wanderers Cricket Club logbook’, the red lines of which are made to strike vertically down the diagonal, playing with direction and motion, as the ball of the game dictated each log of play. ‘Composition No.2: One Horizontal Line’ is made from a late 1800s testament, the simplest of compositions hiding the potent emotions of grief and loss; we draw a line under something and the pages of the will carry this haunting finality.

The ephemera Francisca uses in these works are wonderfully varied, perhaps the most adventurous yet – ranging from nineteenth-century mathematical theory books to beautifully printed outdated receipts. The meanings created through each composition – sometimes nostalgic, sometimes mathematical– become a celebration of the material used, continuing Francisca’s quest to expose and remember the discarded pages of our past.

The success of taking the simple LINE as subject has allowed Francisca’s work to grow with a significance that reflects the graphic and mathematical artistry from which her practice stems. As Francisca’s work has always spoken through folded lines, it is little wonder that it triumphs through the exploration of its origins. “I was analysing and experimenting, trying to look for answers in the simplicity of the line [only] to discover that there is nothing simple about it. It is always charged with meaning”. It is these meanings that Francisca’s exhibition underlines.