Perla Krauze

Perla Krauze works with a number of materials from lead, clay and water to stone. Using graphite frottages from stones and pavements and engraved volcanic rocks from El Pedregal, her paintings are abstract topographies and mappings. Stone is a fundamental material in her practice; linked to memory and durability, it can also be transformed and eroded. The crosshatch patterns in her paintings derive from the lines made in stone cutting, emphasising the transformation of stone from raw material to art object. Described as ‘grayscale tone poems’, Krauze alters and arranges stones to make miniature landscapes, complete in themselves but still referencing their origins. 

Much of her work welcomes the discussion of geography and petrology, documenting the El Pedregal area of Mexico City in particular. This region of the city has a distinct cultural and physical topology. Mythical and raw, it houses the ruins of Cuilcuilco, the oldest city in Mexico, and Copilco, both covered by lava from the eruption of the Xitle volcano three thousand years ago. Krauze also references architecture from the past century in her paintings and sculpture including the Museo Anahuacalli and Casa Prieto designed by Luis Barragan.