Punto y coma – Teresa Camacho
A wedge, essentially, is used to hold a door open—or at least that is its most mundane and widespread use. It can also be used to split, divide, reinforce, adjust, or stop. It forms part of simple assemblies, such as an axe, or can be used to contain water in a ship’s hull. But when we think of it on its own, what comes to mind is that thing—that small object we use to counter the force of gravity and prevent a door from closing.
The wedge also appears in the linguistic field. In Catalan, a falca—a filler word or verbal tic—is a word that stretches out a statement in order to gain time. In a way, it is as though it momentarily slows down a ball of thoughts pressing to come out and be verbalised, holding them back until the right words can be found to continue.
What, then, is a semicolon? Well, um… let’s say that, like a filler word, the semicolon interrupts the flow of a sentence without breaking its continuity. Unlike the full stop, which is more conclusive, and the comma, which is lighter, the semicolon occupies an intermediate and more ambiguous position; it intercepts language in order to create a different rhythm.
Thus, in Semicolon, Teresa Camacho transfers the mechanism of the wedge into the pictorial realm, acting in this way upon the rhythm of the composition. The inclined blocks of colour introduce a sense of force and inertia, while between each block, interstitial spaces open up in which the artist creates a contrast of textures and chromatic vibrations. It is within this tension between continuity and interruption that the wedge emerges: a subjective intervention in rhythm that displaces it and determines a new one.
Ricard Casals Coiduras
