Table No. 16Mixed Media Art - Ash, Coal, Gears & Pigments on Wood - Xabier Liz

Unique artwork on wood 11.5x15 cm with ash, coal, gears and pigments. Contemporary textured art. Industrial memory and emotional archaeology.

Waste and transformation: natural and industrial memory

Ash and charcoal share a common origin: fire as the agent of transformation. Ash—a residue that is both end and beginning—mixes with charcoal and pigments to create a dense, cracked, and vibrant surface that functions as a geological terrain.

The gears introduce an industrial and mechanical memory that contrasts with the organic nature of the ash and coal. These metallic fragments, removed from their original function, are reinterpreted as sculptural elements that bear the marks of time, wear, and obsolescence. The dialogue between the natural and the industrial articulates a reflection on cycles, transformation, and permanence.

Intimate format and intense presence

Each layer, applied, sanded, and eroded, reveals strata of material memory. The natural textures of the coal provide depth and luminous contrasts, while the gears generate spatial tensions and the pigments modulate chromatic intensity without losing the material's sobriety.

Despite its small size (11.5 x 15 cm), the work possesses a sculptural presence that transcends the two-dimensional surface. The reliefs and depressions create an emotional topography that reacts to the light and changes depending on the viewing angle.

A piece of concentrated character and coherent discourse, inscribed in the tradition of material informalism where the active surface becomes an interior geography, an intimate landscape without defined perimeters.

Technical details

• Unique, handmade piece
• Dimensions: 11.5 x 15 cm
• Materials: wood, ash, charcoal, gears, pigments
• Signed by the artist

Xabier Liz (Santiago de Compostela, 1971) develops a visual language where matter is both origin and meaning. Influenced by Leopoldo Nóvoa and traditional African art, his works are exercises in emotional archaeology intended for collectors who value formal research and material intensity.