Patricia Gómez and María Jesús González
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 7 p.m.Brown Center: Room 320 , M110 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.

Spanish artists Patricia Gómez and María Jesús González have a collaborative practice grounded in art conservation. Utilizing a modified version of a technique known as strappo, they work primarily to preserve the surfaces of buildings–the veritable “skin of architecture”–by detaching a wall’s paint with glues and fabric and transferring that surface paint, in its entirety, to a new canvas. During a recent 6-week residency in Philadelphia, they worked at the abandoned Holmesburg Prison before its demolishion, creating large-format “printings” of drawings, paintings and graffiti left by former inmates on the walls. An exhibition that will include this large-scale monoprint will be presented at The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design in January 2012.