PAUL MELLON CENTRE
Exhibition
31 March – 26 May 2026, London
Reminiscence: Absorbed (diptych) by Francisca Prieto is presented in the Lecture Room at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, from 31 March to 26 May 2026.
The Paul Mellon Centre, part of Yale University, is an internationally recognised research institute and educational charity dedicated to the study of British art and architecture. Through its exhibitions, publications and academic programmes, it plays a central role in advancing scholarship and public engagement in the field.
Absorbed
Treated nickel silver. 60 x 42 x 5 cm each, diptych
To be absorbed is to be pulled in, to be completely held in concentration and thought, summoning a glorious nothingness across the mind as everything else falls away. Black, the absorption of all colour, of all light, epitomises this state, the depths of an abyss with no beginning or end. The tightening gridlines of the Absorbed diptych mirror the contorting and contracting of the mind’s eye, the grappling of understanding something we cannot see but by which we are consumed. Flickers of light, silvery echoes of comprehension, cling to the metal structure, barely visible and matt like the immersive black that surrounds. Built through Francisca’s careful treatment of the metal, they are spaces for possibilities, holding scope from which to construct and create, from the profound state of absorption.
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
16 Bedford Square
London WC1B 3JA
United Kingdom
