For her solo exhibition 'A New World' at Palacio Liria in Madrid (February 24th - July 23rd, 2024), artist Denise de la Rue worked with Factum Arte on the creation of a new body of work based on a series of 21 written documents signed by Christopher Columbus which are housed in the Casa de Alba collection.

Inspired by the theme of exploration, wonder and discovery, de la Rue conceived a series of 21 sculptures that connect the 1492 discovery of the Americas to space exploration and the 1969 moon landing. In addition, “A New World” will explore the latest advancements in technology relating to space exploration and the planned colonisation of Mars in the next decade.

The sculptures are inspired by artefacts and objects that have been present on NASA missions, as well as a series of 3D recreations of meteorites. The works were made in a variety of materials: resin, aluminium, stainless steel and elevated printing. They involved both innovation and experimentation to produce meteors and complex printed surfaces. 

Resin samples and concept © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Arte

Mould test © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Arte

Montserrat Crespo and Juan Carlos Arias working on the 3D meteorites © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Arte

Plastic mould being filled with gypsum mix and resin © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Arte

The spherical pieces are designed to look like Seymchan meteorites, iron meteorites notable for their striking crystalline structures. The process began with marking numbered sections on a plastic spherical mould, guiding the placement of various tones of metal to achieve a marble-like effect. Using a gypsum mix with aluminium powder, these sections were then carefully filled with different shades of metal, while the remaining spaces were packed with a blend of tree and transparent resins. Finally, extracts from Columbus’ documents were printed onto the sculpture using Canon Production Printing’s elevated printing technology, a system which allows the creation of high-quality textured prints.

Some of the wall-hung pieces were made by printing passages from Columbus' letters and text from Apollo Program documents onto gold thermal foil resembling the Kapton foil thermal blankets used on the Apollo spacecrafts. After printing, the foil was laminated and burned onto an aluminium plate.

Rescue replicates the arrow from the hatch of the Apollo 11 Command Module ‘Colombia’, which was over the capsule’s exterior Kapton foil covering. The arrow, which pointed to the panel used to gain acces to the spacecraft’s cabin in cases of emergencies, was created by using an elevated printer on an aluminium sheet.