Obsidian Silence — A New Series by Alejandro Rojas Salazar - 33 works
Opens April 4 to 20
Thirty-three years ago, my father was shot in the head while standing beside me. I was a boy. I said nothing. I buried the moment so deeply it almost disappeared—until now.
Obsidian Silence emerged during six weeks of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy, when that long-held trauma surfaced fully, finally. These paintings are the residue of what I felt, what I couldn’t say, and what I had to face to return to myself.
Black, in this work, is not emptiness. It is a presence. A space of memory, reckoning, and breath. The silence that held my grief became the ground I painted on—layered, ruptured, exposed.
Guided by the energy of obsidian—a stone of protection, truth, and deep transformation—I surrendered control and let the work speak first.
This is not a series about resolution. It is about what remains when language dissolves, and all that’s left is texture, gesture, and the silence that knows you.
— Salazar
In my latest series, Obsidian Silence, I confront the power of black—not as absence, but as presence.
These four abstract paintings are not about darkness. They are about what lies within it: memory, rupture, healing, and the raw residue of emotion. Painted in layered gestures and heavy sweeps of black, each piece became a ritual of release. I used my hands, rags, brushes, and the urgency of the moment to carve into the surface. What emerged were not compositions, but encounters—quiet, defiant, and deeply personal.
The titles of each work—Descent, Breakage, Echo Field, and Residue—reflect the emotional stages I experienced while creating them. There were moments of inward spiraling. Moments where things broke open. Moments where something haunted echoed back. And finally, what remained.
Obsidian Silence is about the silence we carry, and the marks we make to survive it. It’s about what happens when you stop trying to explain yourself and instead, allow the painting to do the speaking.
These works are now on view at my gallery, SD Art Advisory. Come see them in person. Let the silence speak to you.
— Alejandro Rojas Salazar AKA Alexander
San Diego, 2025
