visual sculptures by gisela colón
Lustrous and iridescent, a series of Gisela Colón’s otherworldly monuments trace how material can shape experience from within. The artist has installed it sculptureswhich she often mentions in her works as lobes or monoliths, in the dramatic landscapes of Cairo, Holland, Al Ullaand even her home in Puerto Rico, to name a few—in each case, they respond directly to the conditions of each location.
Their polished surfaces carry an immediate impression of visual awe, a result of their multi-layered constructions. Constructed from aerospace carbon fiber and optical acrylic films, they produce color through the internal movement of light, allowing changes in atmosphere, location and daylight to be recorded on their surfaces.
Godheads: Idols In Times Of Crisis, Lustwarande Forest, Netherlands, 2022
disorienting geometries offer moments of reflection
While her controlled construction aligns Gisela Colón with the legacies of Minimalism and the Light and Space movement, her monoliths extend these frameworks through what she calls Organic Minimalism. The term situates her practice within a broader set of references, linking the reductive form to processes related to growth, energy, and transformation.
It also brings into focus the cultural and geographic contexts that shape the work, including her diasporic identity—moving from Puerto Rico to Los Angeles—and her preoccupation with sites characterized by layered histories. Within this expanded field, the sculptures function as more than dramatic geometric objects. They act as totems to reorient viewers to a complex location and give them one dreamy moment to find focus within yourself.
The Future Is Now, Desert X Biennial, AlUla, Saudi Arabia, 2020. see more here
material intelligence embedded in form
The logic of the project starts from construction. Instead of applying color or image, Gisela Colón structures the material so that it creates its own visual field. Optical acrylic is selected and layered for its ability to bend light in specific ways. Carbon fiber and resin reinforce the form while maintaining a smooth, continuous surface.
Through this process, the sculpture conveys its behavior internally. The light conditions, the viewing angle and the surrounding space activate the work, but the transformation comes from the way the material is made. The object has a latent performance that becomes visible through use.
This approach reframes design as a matter of embodied properties. Sculpture is neither inert nor decorative. It produces variation through its own structure to propose a model in which material actively participates in shaping experience.
Rivers of Gold and Dust, El Yunque National Rainforest, Puerto Rico, 2025
reorganization of the way space is experienced
The spatial effect of Gisela Colón’s work is developed through perception rather than through architectural intervention. Each piece responds to three conditions: the viewer’s position, the angle and intensity of the light, and the environment. A single sculpture can appear opaque, translucent, or internally luminous in just a few steps.
This instability draws attention to movement. Walking around the work becomes part of its operation. Time enters through gradual changes in light, while space is read through changing color and depth. The sculpture resists a fixed image, requiring constant adjustment by the viewer.
In this way, the project reorganizes how space is experienced. By simply adding a monolithic ‘lobe’, the artist changes the way the conditions of the existing context are perceived. Light, duration, and position become readable as active elements rather than background conditions.
Forever Is Now, Pyramids Of Giza, Cairo, Egypt, 2021. see more here
Matéria Prima, National Museum of the Republic, Brasilia, Brazil, 2024
