Gabriel Esteban Molina | Scouring Heaven and Earth

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Gabriel Esteban Molina, “Scouring Heaven and Earth,” 2024

(courtesy of the Gallery)

Scouring Heaven and Earth presents a selection from Gabriel Esteban Molina’s Criologia series, showcasing the artist’s experimental photography practice. The collection began with numerous photographs of ice crystals on the windows of Molina’s home in the winter of 2021, with the name deriving from the word cryology — the study of snow and ice.

As part of his artistic process, after photographing, Molina uploads the images to his computer and employs his camera much like a scientific instrument: zooming in and searching for compositions which he rephotographs from the screen, playing with blur, focus and scale to create different textures, lighting and effects. Rephotographing allows Molina to experiment with abstraction and explore patterns and possibilities within the images.

The work revels in the human proclivity towards pareidolia — the tendency to perceive a specific or meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. For example, looking for animals in the shapes of clouds, or faces in the lines of a cliff escarpment. In a few of the pieces, the imagery of ice crystals remains evident. Others appear familiar but unrecognizable. Could it be a low-res satellite image taken of the cosmos? A glitch rendered by artificial intelligence? The body of work is further contextualized by artists dog passing away during the original photo-spree. Conceived amidst grief, the work raises questions about why humans constantly search for patterns and meaning. Is it a distraction, a coping mechanism, entertainment, meditation, something hardwired into our brains?

Ultimately, Molina aims to draw connections between artistic pursuit, science and religion as methods for discerning meaning from existence. Scouring Heaven and Earth invites viewers to zoom way out and to dive in deep. To ask questions and tune in to the little and big things happening all around.

About the artist

Gabriel Esteban Molina is a visual artist based in Edmonton, Alberta, also known as amiskwacîwâskahikan. Molina is a first-generation Canadian of Chilean descent, having spent his early years between Edmonton, where he was born and raised, and Quilpué, Chile, from where his family hails. Molina completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Alberta in 2013 and a Masters of Art in Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Arts in London, England in 2015. His work has been featured in various group and solo exhibitions throughout Edmonton, as well as Alberta, London, Italy, Iceland and online. He has also participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and ArtsIceland in the Westfjords of Iceland, and has won awards including the Edmonton Artists Trust Fund in 2021.