Samuel Gaytan El Paso Times

An art installation at Galeria Lincoln will help people record momentous occasions in life, but it also is meant to help remind them to make the most of it.

People can take part in “Paradox Pyramid,” an immersive art experience by artist Laura Turón, at Galeria Lincoln, 3915 Rosa Ave.

The gallery and Turón are teaming up to offer Borderland residents the opportunity for an artistic selfie, graduation photo, quinceañera pose, proposal or maybe just a chance to record a fun night out. 

Turón said she has been an artist since she was a young girl. “I went to school at UTEP and graduated with a drawing and graphic design major and a minor in painting,” she said.

After graduating, she worked at Amor por Juárez, helping promote artists from El Paso and our sister city.

Now, she is busy making sure she makes the most of her life. She said the tally marks used in her work help her do that.

While the way they are grouped create an optical illusion of curves, she said, “at the same time, it’s like I’m keeping count of it because I’m making every second count of my life. Like, ‘How are you doing that?’ So, it’s kind of like my concept. So, that is a goal of this piece.”

As for the title of her work, she said: “I began working with the concept of the paradox by doing research on my concept of time. I used to draw tally marks in trying to portray the concept of time, making an abstract representation of the second, like trying to make every second count. So, I would draw these large art pieces and installations, making tally marks and keeping count of the pieces. And I would have pieces that would be up to 300,000 or 500,000 tally marks, and going behind the concept of making every second count. 

She added, “So, I decided to do more research on the word paradox itself and I ran into this drawing system, which is the paradox drawing … which is a series of straight lines creating the optical illusion of curves and dimension. So, I started kind of combining that concept and decided to do portray my concept of art, definition of art and time, and started working with this optical illusion kind of concept.”

She said she used the concept on “an old school bus I converted into a mobile art installation gallery.”

She said her work creates a mobile environment, “which is a piece that is kind of like a puzzle that can be separated in sections and then constructed into one large piece and then can be adaptable to any space or area.”

Rather than selling her large installations, she charges people for access.

“The idea of this is for people to come walk in, come on in, and look at the environment around, look at the optical illusion and feel like they are walking into another world, a world where they can express themselves freely, take pictures, selfies and just enjoy art in a different way.”

Despite the intricacies behind the creation of the optical illusion of curves through the use of lines, she said she prefers simplicity as she creates.

“I use tape as a line,” she said. “It’s a little bit simpler, but, still, it’s hard.

“But I like to use simple materials, like rulers, markers and tapes. On my art installation on the bus, I did use a ruler and a marker. And I have done this like that as well.

“But the tape is a little faster to work with, and sometimes it comes out more expensive, but it is a little bit faster and we can also play with the consistency of the lines,” including the thickness.

She said: “Sometimes working with tape is a little bit unpredictable. You don’t know if the tape is gonna get stuck onto the piece or the paint is gonna peel, so it’s a little bit more work.”

Creating “Paradox Pyramid,” she said, took two and a half months, “but it was working about 14, 16 hours a day. It was a lot of work.”

She said people visiting “Paradox Pyramid” will have a different experience, depending on when they stop by.

“This piece plays with natural light and artificial light,” she said.

During the day, natural light adds tint, but at night, LED lights that change color will create a different experience.

Diego Martinez, co-owner of the gallery with Tino Ortega, said: “What we are hoping for this to be is just a new, innovative way for galleries to help artists self-sustain in the city, so we’re allowing her to kind of just run her online gallery store and use Galeria Lincoln as a platform. We think that’s huge and crucial for this community, that we’re aware of the talent that we have in this community and kind of like just the amazing things that we’re doing here collectively as a unit.”

Ortega, who took a key role in putting together the installation, said, “Luckily, everything has just been falling into place. … It’s kind of like kismet, to be honest. Her stuff already happened to be here. It was just one of those things that was just meant to be.”

“Paradox Pyramid,” which previously was seen at “Chalk the Block” in 2018, was stored in a shipping container in the gallery’s backyard when Martinez and Ortega thought of bringing it out as an immersive art experience for the public that also could raise funds for the gallery and Turón.

The gallery also is selling limited-edition face masks by Turón for $30 each, as well as prints of her designs. Two of her paintings that were part of an exhibit on immigration at the El Paso Museum of History also are on display.

She also is working on redoing the artwork on a plane fuselage in the gallery’s backyard. Martinez said the plan with the plane is to periodically have artists rework it to create new experiences.