Temperaments

The Four Temperaments theory is born in ancient Greece by the hand of Hipocrates. Even though some sources that the theory existed even earlier, i.e., in civilizations as ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia.

The temperaments where a crucial reference in the origins of medicine and primarily in psychology. Although these theories became obsolete in these valid ﬁelds of study, the theory has been adopted by schools of thought as Holistic philosophy and Anthroposophy.

Succinctly, each one of the Four Temperaments is deﬁned as a predominant and innate structure that predetermines our relation with the environment. The temperament is infused in the physical and psychological features of a person. Each temperament is connected with a corporal ﬂuid, a season, a color and a type of zodiac sign… its complexity and mysticism have inspired great artists and creators such as Dürer, Emile Zola or Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

I was mainly focused on the idea of what is inherited, what is innate, what is not learned, working over that and at the same time, questioning its existence. Once I was working on this, my focus shifted to another interesting idea: The human necessity of containing the complexity of the mind in small drawers. An attempt of organizing the chaos within existence, cutting and limiting it to rational concepts that try to explain the whole.

From this idea, I created these four “boxes”, containing a personal interpretation of the Four Temperaments, representing their complexity and intention of containing what is not possible to contain.

The transparency of the material helps to explain the theory in a tangible level. It has to be able to manifest scission and unity at the same time. Moving sculpture. Painting and engraving on plexiglass, iron box, inner led lights system, silkscreen printed and engraved wood base. 28x27x58cm.

TEMPERAMENTS is part of “Renaissance”, an exhibition with Bezt_Etam and Vhils at MAGMA Gallery