Futuro

The above-mentioned questions emerged in the COVID period, in which he lost a number of family members, and he saw the whole system, especially that of healthcare, collapse. In this difficult period, Jarama realised that it is important to care for one’s family and loved ones, and to convey that to others.

He is convinced that the current system is made possible by the belief that humans are superior to animals and nature. The indigenous inhabitants of South and North America lived in harmony with nature, but most indigenous people were exterminated by the Spanish, French and English. Only a few groups in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Central America, Mexico, Guatemala, North America and Canada are still alive and remain, to the extent possible, faithful to their original way of living. According to Jarama, we should take them as an example, but he also understands that this is difficult for them. In Bolivia, Chile and Peru, many of them live high in the mountains where life is hard. They cannot adapt to the present age there, and many move to the cities, where they become part of the system and thus lose their exemplary role when it comes to oral transmission of traditions and history.

According to the artist, humans are subjected to the current system out of fear. They are unable to free themselves and follow orders blindly, like soldiers in a war. It is hard to retain one’s own identity in this society. Those in power keep people under control in order to maintain the current neoliberal system, in which people are mainly focused on technological innovations and Artificial Intelligence. In his paintings and drawings, Jarama shows rulers and subordinates who are gradually changing into robots. The rulers are literally pulling the strings, for example in the work El Hombre de las Marionetas (The Puppeteer) (2020), in which the subordinates remain outside the picture. The figure pulling the strings is wearing a kind of armour, a mask and a cape. Around his neck, there is an amulet with the sign of the all-seeing eye. The mask he is wearing was worn during plague epidemics in Europe by paramedics who carried the dead away to be burned. Partly as a result of this, it is a scary figure.

El Hombre de las Marionetas, 2020, watercolour, markers and ballpoint on paper, 30x42cm

The dazed subordinates are changed bit by bit into Androids, some screaming in vain that they do not want this. Examples of this are the works Metamórfico Robot (2020), Trans-human (2020), Oblivion (2021) and Avatares (2021).

Metamórfico Robot, 2020, watercolour, markers and ballpoint on paper, 30x42cm

In this series too, people’s resistance is an important subject, such as the works POW (2021) and Dis- Obey (2021). The work Pow (2021) contains the text, in Greek, The Future Wears A Hoody. Jarama saw this slogan on a wall in Athens. On the right, there is a figure who is wrapped in pieces of cloth. He is wearing a cap, protective goggles and a hoody. He stretches his right hand, and the word ‘POW’ is visible in capitals, like one sees in graphic novels. Fragments come flying off the word. Below his arm, there is the word ‘GO’, to underline the action, the resistance, once again. Here, the resistance against the system has been represented as a barcode, as is often the case in the artist’s work. On the lefthand side of the drawing, a Peruvian mask can be seen, which is meant to reinforce the message of the drawing.

POW, 2021, watercolour, markers, and ballpoint on paper, 30x42cm

In his work, Jarama often uses ancestral Peruvian symbols, such as masks, in order to offer protection and give the work more power. The Peruvian masks represent the sculptures called cabezas clavas (stone heads). They come from the archaeological site Chavín de Huántar (Áncash department) and symbolise the sacred animals of pre-Columbian Peru. They are the heads of a feline (puma), a snake and a bird (condor). The condor, El Hanan Pacha, symbolises the upper world. The puma (El Kay Pacha) represents earthly strength, the here and now, and the snake (El Uku Pacha) represents the underworld.

Some of the works in the Futuro series are about Jarama’s vision for the future, which involves our possible journey through space. In recent centuries, scientists have determined that our world and the Galaxy have emerged due to a big bang. However, recent findings of the Hubble Telescope show that we are a small part of a much larger universe that consists of countless galaxies. Such an endless universe suggests that the earth is not the only planet that is inhabited by living beings. Ricardo Jarama is also convinced of this, but does not believe in the Little Green Men story that is fed to us by the American government. In his opinion, this is also part of a system aimed at scaring people and keeping them under control. For centuries, we have been told that everything that is different forms a threat, such as wild animals that have been slaughtered to the point of extinction, or people with a different skin colour or indigenous peoples, and this therefore also applies to possible creatures from other planets. According to Jarama, depicting other people as enemies is caused by the fact that people have no conscience, and this may well lead to their destruction. The feeling of superiority, combined with ruthlessness and fear, causes people not to listen to what the earth and new scientific findings tell us. Examples of works about this are Krononauto-trip (2020), The First Krononauta (2020) and The Vision (2020).

Krononauto-trip, 2020, markers on paper, 30x42cm

The First Krononauta, 2020, watercolour, markers on paper, 30 x 48 cm

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