2025
works - prototypes
LOOP
LOOP
Definition of Loop: from the French: boucle 'buckle', 'loop',
and this from Latin: buccŭla 'rounded metal garniture located in the center of a shield'; literally 'little mouth'.
m. Helical curl of hair.
m. Object whose shape resembles that of a loop.
m. A process that repeats indefinitely.
m. A series of instructions that are repeated indefinitely until a previously established condition is met.
Concept
LOOP is an exploration of geometric shapes that can be created in a 2D but are simultaneously impossible to create in the traditional space we know.
LOOP is a tetrahedron, a regular polyhedron with four triangular faces. It lacks the four main vertices, resulting in a construction with 12 vertices and 18 edges. Its four triangular faces are represented by four Penrose triangles.
The Penrose triangle is an object impossible to represent in three dimensions, yet it can be drawn on paper. Composed of three 7s, it appears to be a solid object, formed by three straight segments with square cross-sections that, when joined, form right angles at the vertices of the triangle they compose.
The tetrahedron, a symbol of energy, transformation, and purification, is, from a spiritual perspective and within the realm of sacred geometry, a fundamental building block of the universe. It represents the spirit of sacred fire.
It is a symbol of change, purification, and sacrifice.
The interlocking composition of the triple 7 on its faces is associated in numerology with inner wisdom and personal growth. The sense of continuity of these sides generates cycles of time that flow inward.
The illusion of a staircase created by the fragmentation into mirrored polygons on the faces of the 7s that form the loop functions like screens that reflect a distorted environment on different planes.
Penrose Triangle
Context
The Penrose triangle is an object impossible to represent in three dimensions, yet it can be drawn on a plane. Composed of three 7s, it appears to be a solid object, formed by three straight sections with a square cross-section that, when joined, form
right angles at the vertices of the triangle they compose.
The interlocking composition of the triple 7 on its faces is associated in numerology with inner wisdom and personal growth. The sense of continuity of these sides generates cycles of time that are directed inward.
This geometric figure, known as the Penrose triangle, was created by the Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd (1915-2002) in 1934 and rediscovered by the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose (1931) in 1954. This infinite triangle also appears in the work of the Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972), a contemporary of Penrose.
Escher's Waterfall (lithograph, 1961) has channels where a stream of water flows in a zigzag pattern along the sides of two elongated Penrose triangles, in such a way that the water falls two stories higher than where it starts, generating a constant, endless, infinite cycle.
M.C. Escher, Waterfall
Lithograph, 37.8 x 30 cm, 1961
Research
The creative process began in 2023. It involved creations based on book images, works created with artificial intelligence, scale models, a prototype of the LOOP, and the development of a 3D digital model of LOOP202508.
Conceptually, it is linked to the book: “The Impossible Arises: Oscar Reutersvärd and His Contemporaries” by Chris Mortensen.
A. TWO DIMENSIONS
These are digitally created works using artificial intelligence and analog images manipulated by the same images.
In my creative process, I establish guidelines for the development of the works.
To use the least amount of material possible visually. To try not to incorporate other external elements and to solve this almost mathematical exercise and obtain from that equation a result that is inconsistent with traditional Euclidean geometry: a transformed image.
The books used for the production of the work were:
“Transformations of the Landscape,” a photographic book documenting the Telefónica cable installation in Spain in 1900.
https://www.santiagoestellano.com/transformacion
“Mid Century Memoires: The Anonymous Project,” a project by photographer Lee Shulman featuring anonymous photographs from the 1950s.
https://www.santiagoestellano.com/anonymous
B. PRISM – MODEL
The first model I made, exploring the possibilities of constructing the LOOP in three dimensions, was a prism, which creates an image of an impossible figure made possible for the observer.
For this to work, it's important to note that the construction must be viewed from a specific angle and with a single lens. The object is only easily understood if a photograph is taken and viewed on a screen. Photography is an illusion; the physical object photographed lacks the characteristics it actually possesses, but appears to have in the photograph.
The human brain processes two images, one from each eye (lens), allowing it to interpret the distance of objects and reconstruct the spatial environment. The observer must be positioned in a specific location with one eye (lens) covered to assemble the composition and understand its other morphology.
Untitled – Prisma
foamboard, diaries, paint, 25 x 25 x 23.5cm, 2024
C. PENROSE TETRAHEDRON
Not satisfied with the first model, I decided to keep the Penrose triangle image on the plane and make them the walls of a tetrahedron. The concept of a pyramid emerged, which, due to its symbolism, enhances its raison d'être and its role as a transporting element between dimensions.
In this way, I eliminated the need to observe it only from a specific location and with a particular lens. I created the possibility of easily view the construction of the loop.
Penrose Tetrahedron
Wood, gilt leaf, 30 x 30 x 28 cm, 2024
D. LOOP202408 PORTALS
The premise was that each face of the LOOP should reflect a fragmented image of its surroundings.
In the solo exhibition in Moreno, the viewer was meant to see themselves reflected, but on different planes. In this production, the seven faces of the tetrahedron were made with full-length mirrors, each with a slight tilt.
This is why the reflection of the surroundings will never be on a single plane, and the image from the mirrors becomes fragmented. An analog glitch, a distortion of the reflection, the LOOP acts as an element of the digital world that generates system errors, a new image where time provides some of the necessary information, presenting us with unforeseen characteristics.
LOOP202408
Wood, mirrors, 100 x 100 x 90 cm, 2024
E. THE IMPOSSIBLE ARISES
This book, based on an extensive collection of Reutersvärd's art and correspondence held at the Lilly Library of Indiana University in Bloomington, describes the most significant discoveries of Oscar Reutersvärd, creator of impossible figures.
For much of his professional life, he was an academic art historian specializing in French Impressionism, teaching at Lund University and producing numerous research papers, books, and artworks. The extraordinary richness of his work and practice is closer to science, particularly geometry, than to art in general.
Also presented are Escher and Penrose, among others, who strongly influenced each other's concept of impossible figures beginning in the 1950s, while Oscar was exhibiting in Sweden and the Netherlands at that time.
The emergence of the impossible, deeply illustrated, examines the evolution of Reutersvärd's impossible figures and how they influenced other modern artists of the late 20th century. In this context, it defines impossibility as the inconsistency of the laws of logic, mathematics, or geometry. Impossible figures emerge that possess an inconsistent, nonverbal content.
The impossible arises: Oscar Reutersvärd and his contemporaries por Chris Mortensen. 2022.
LOOP
mdf, plaster, paint, mirrors. 65 x 73 x 65 cm, 2025
Selected sculpture: 69th Manuel Belgrano Fine Arts Salon, Sivori Museum.
Buenos Aires, Argentina. December 2025
D. LOOP202508
LOOP is the result of two years of research, where modern concepts impossible to create in ordinary Euclidean space are represented through a contemporary construction that invites reflection on time, space, the absence of external limits, the interconnection of all these things, and the cyclical nature of the universe. Past, present, and future are simultaneously real and connected in this space.
