Tlarrandacán by Claudia Peña Salinas at Casa Gilardi
Casa Gilardi (1975–1977)
In the history of Mexican architecture, Luis Barragán (1902–1988) opened up an unprecedented space of exploration, where the vibrant colors of walls and the natural light filtering through windows gave rise to an intense exchange of chromatic cooperation. Upon spaces contained by rough textures, over water that sleeps in stone basins, and amidst wild gardens devouring everything in their path, Barragán painted—always with full awareness of this visual experience—incandescent spaces in which the air of rooms and terraces gently shelters the most demanding gazes. Filled with art books, vinyl records, furniture, and tribal objects, his dwellings are places of rest. The conventual architecture of our author offers a foundation of spiritual retreat, allowing the soul to emancipate without limits. For this reason, Barragán’s work has been—and in many ways continues to be—a unique space for contemplation and delight.
Among the masterpieces of Barragán’s late period stands out Casa Gilardi, a home designed for the well-known Mexico City publicists and socialites Francisco Gilardi and Martin Luque (between 1975 and 1977). Thanks to its colors and effects of light, it stimulates both the senses and the imagination. At the heart of this restrained structure lies an indoor pool, where the movement of sunlight projected on blue and red walls produces an optical vibration effect. Interestingly, in this work the architect employed the canonical colors of Dutch Neoplasticism: the yellow of the entrance hallway, alongside the blue and red of the pool. In addition, the large walls of the central courtyard are dominated by pink, breaking away from the palette of primary colors used in the interior. The house represents a rupture in Barragán’s trajectory, as it condenses a series of sensory elements within a single constructive space. This work has fascinated the architectural profession and, perhaps even more intensely, has captivated contemporary creators from other disciplines.
Mexican-American artist Claudia Peña Salinas (b. 1975) has intervened in the space of Casa Gilardi for GAMA Week 2025, introducing a series of elements that enter into dialogue with Barragán’s architectural language. The project recycles materials from the architect’s own Casa Estudio, with the aim of activating, in precise ways, the constructed spaces on the ground floor of this iconic building. Recently, Peña Salinas has developed a body of work highlighting the cosmogony of indigenous communities from central Mexico, always in connection with major international architecture and design of the 20th and 21st centuries. Examples include her spatial installations composed of light golden metal rods—similar to those used in industrial furniture—wrapped in dyed cotton thread, as well as a series of small ceremonial objects. In these projects, the artist covers the empty spaces inside cubic structures with cotton thread. Within these woven cubes, the geometric pattern of the tzicuri (or God’s eye), crafted by Wixárika communities of the Sierra Madre in Nayarit, Durango, and Zacatecas, emerges. For the intervention at Casa Gilardi, the artist has chosen a set of objects that, in this case, directly reference the life of the architect.
Peña Salinas reveals the main elements that make up the collections of art and appliances in Casa Barragán. On hanging silk tendons, she has painted everyday objects infused with poetic and industrial charge: a stone skull, a mantel clock, steel fireplace tongs, a plaster foot, and a painting by Josef Albers. All these objects from Casa Estudio Luis Barragán now reappear in Casa Gilardi, yet thanks to their strategic displacement they are transformed into subtle images. These figures were created with pigments extracted from the jacaranda flower, which contains anthocyanins—a dye substance that yields soft hues, in this case ochres and yellows. What is remarkable is that emblematic pieces from the architect’s house, when visually transposed from one place to another, acquire new semantic connotations. These objects and materials are native to the construction and creative language of Luis Barragán. Perhaps for this reason they function as offerings, or even as ready-mades that re-signify the corridors and halls of Casa Gilardi.
Another element represented in this architectural space is La serpiente, created by a close friend and collaborator, Mathias Goeritz (1915–1990). Originally conceived by the German artist for the patio of the Museo Experimental El Eco in 1953, this monumental black iron sculpture with sharp angles has been recreated by Peña Salinas in MDF and placed in the hallway leading to the pool. The serpentine form, covered with reflective synthetic fabric, vibrates with the yellow wall and leads us directly toward the water. This experience, with clear evocations of the god Tlaloc, unites the vital elements of the cosmos in a journey through metaphysical time and space.
Special attention must be paid to the jacaranda tree visible upon entering the pool area, as it is, surprisingly, the only living element integrated into the architecture.
Luis Barragán defined his materials and language through an essentially rural experience. Let us not forget that although he was born in Guadalajara, he grew up and was educated in the mountainous environment of Mazamitla. For this reason, his atmospheres possess a subtly vernacular essence, and his gardens are free and untamed. The water, the jacaranda, and the personal objects contained in this space are now also part of Claudia Peña Salinas’s large-scale installation. With her intervention in the house, we enter a world that merges design with shamanism. Barragán, profoundly Catholic, also fused his spiritual fervor with his love for design and construction. The intense colors and objects deployed in this exhibition bear witness to that adventure.
— Patrick Charpenel
