“01.21 pm italia”

About the Artwork

1:21 p.m. Italia is part of a body of work born from a sustained and intimate observation of the sky. The painting captures a specific moment in time, not as a landscape, but as an act of attention: a pause in the day where the sky becomes both subject and presence.

Rather than representing a generalized idea of the sky, this work responds to a precise instant—1:21 in the afternoon—when light, color, and atmosphere align in a way that can never be repeated. The circular format reinforces this sense of completeness and immediacy, suggesting a fragment extracted from something infinite.

The Sky as a Living Presence

For years, Rosana Auqué has been drawn to the sky as a constant companion. Always present, always changing, it exists above us regardless of whether we notice it or not. In this period of her practice, she began to look upward deliberately, returning again and again to the sky at specific moments of the day and translating what she saw into paint.

This attention transformed observation into ritual. Friends and acquaintances began sending photographs of skies that had moved them—moments of light they wished to remember. These shared images became starting points for paintings, each one anchored to a time, a place, and a lived experience.

Painting Time, Not Just Color

A Specific Moment

The title 1:21 p.m. Italia does not function as a poetic metaphor but as a temporal marker. It situates the work within a real, lived instant. Time here is not abstract; it is measured, personal, and irretrievable.

By naming the hour, the artist emphasizes that what is being painted is not merely the sky, but the experience of that moment—a fleeting alignment of light, atmosphere, and perception.

Circular Format and Meaning

The circular shape of the canvas suggests continuity, cycles, and wholeness. It mirrors the idea of the sky as something without edges, without beginning or end. The format invites the viewer to look inward, as if gazing through an opening rather than at a surface.

A Quiet Philosophy of Looking Up

Embedded in this work is a recurring reflection: “If we were to always look at the sky, we would end up having wings.”
The phrase does not propose escape, but awareness.

The sky asks for nothing in return. It offers itself continuously—light, movement, transformation—without expectation. Yet truly seeing it requires an act of choice: the decision to pause, to lift one’s gaze, to pay attention.

In 1:21 p.m. Italia, the sky becomes a metaphor for generosity, presence, and silent teaching. It is always there for those who dare to look, for those willing to ask nothing and simply receive.

Place Within the Artist’s Practice

This work belongs to a period in which Rosana Auqué explored the sky as a recurring subject, not through grand spectacle, but through intimacy and repetition. Painting the sky at precise times allowed her to build a visual archive of moments—each one unique, yet connected by a shared attentiveness.

Rather than documenting geography, these works document relationship: between the artist and the sky, between time and perception, between presence and memory.