In her second solo show, in between important group shows, AnaMary Bilbao proceeds with her palimpsests by reversion: she doesn’t erase what she “writes” (or scratches) on the surface, so that she can do it again. Rather it is the accumulation of traces and layers of plaster that allow the discerning of the basis of it all. The works are small in format (a dozen) in perfect harmony with the room they are destined for. Oddly enough, the fact they are plaster (gesso) over paper does not remove the impression of a thin pictorial skin. The artist fills a sheet of paper with lines of yellow pencil. Then it’s covered with a layer of ochre-earth plaster. Over this new layer, a new inscription of green tracings, plaster, terra sienna pencil and, finally, plaster. But the order might be some other. At the end, a stylus takes action, scratching and produces the archaeology of each drawing, showing the invisibility of everything we see.         

Carlos Vidal, Oct. 2014
Translated by Susana Pomba