fig.139

Jorge Rodríguez

THERATOS

Jorge Luis Rodríguez Marrero deforms ("dilutes", "liquefies", "melts") the faces of famous cosmonauts and astronauts, all participants in the race for the conquest of space, in order to - to some extent - depersonalize a scientific, technological and —of course— political race between two powers in the second half of the 20th century. The then Soviet Union put a man into outer space for the first time. The United States evened the score when man stepped on the moon for the first time. They were great milestones of Humanity, watersheds of history. And they were made possible by the efforts of many people. But the artist, more than the human being, revels in the symbolism of competition, which can be alienating. In these unique portraits, visual effects are recreated that could be associated with technical difficulties in the transmission of an image, but ultimately turn those portrayed into monsters (Theratos —monster in ancient Greek— is the title of the series). The deformation of the hero (rather the concept of heroism) by considerations that transcend the mere scientific field. A certain pop vocation is evident in these figurations, very apropos of the context in which the rivalry between two ideologies and two systems materialized. Cosmonaut vs. astronaut: is the apparent showdown. But in reality, it is a much larger fight, which goes beyond the most visible and media protagonists.