During the 2020 lockdown, without access to his studio or usual materials, Manuel Calderón began a domestic exercise that would mark a subtle yet significant shift in his practice. He returned to drawing with elementary tools—working on handmade sheets, perforated and gridded by hand. In this limited and improvised space, a curiosity for color emerged, prompting him to explore the digital collections of major museums, taking advantage of an exceptional circumstance: unprecedented access to high-resolution images of classical paintings, offering details never before visible, not even in person.
Calderón selected pictorial fragments from these works and meticulously transferred them onto his gridded surfaces. However, he soon began to alter the grid itself: what initially served to structure the surface became an active agent—capable of distorting, shifting, or reinterpreting the image.
Thus, the series raises a pointed question: can the structure of the support alter not only the image it holds, but also the way we think and perceive? As in his previous spatial projects, Calderón investigates how geometry shapes experience: if architectural space defines how the body moves, perhaps the grid on the page also influences the construction of visual thought.