on what is left is a 2019 series by Valencian artist Irene Grau. It consists of sixty-nine works that explore the intricate relationship between humans and nature, using different formats and techniques. The series has been exhibited at several international venues. In 2021, it won the Isaac Díaz Pardo Award for the Plastic Arts from A Coruña Provincial Council. The pieces in on what is left are an extension of Grau's exploration of 'landscape through drifting', which she first began in projects such as -metría (2016) and natural structure (2018). As in previous works, Grau brings natural elements such as earth and ashes to the pictorial plane, combining them with photographs and installations to provide a conceptual reflection on the contemporary landscape.

Her starting point is the environmental catastrophe caused by the devastating forest fires in the Galicia area of Spain in 2017. She developed these pieces following a period of almost two years of meticulous on-site research, travelling deep into the charred forests of Tourón. By observing the environment in such detail and gathering samples, Grau highlights the human intervention that lay behind the catastrophe. Her work is a critique of land speculation and landscape transformation. In a broader sense, it also warns of the consequences of extractivism and capitalist exploitation of the environment.

The two pieces in the Banco de España Collection are small-format canvases which use ash from the fire itself to explore the processual and material possibilities of indirect transfer, while at the same time inviting us to reflect on the environmental degradation caused by human activity. Although in both pieces the primary pigment is ash, the material is processed differently in each one; whereas Grau uses pressure in on what is left 3324-P-1, she washes the ash in on what is left 3324-W-1. She employs horizontal techniques to transfer the materials she has collected from the devastated forest areas to the canvas, dispensing with brushes and other instruments typical of traditional painting. This gives the pieces a raw and spontaneous appearance, almost as if they were the result of a process of organic degradation. These indirect techniques, where the method matches the title notion of 'what is left', give the works a monochromatic aesthetic and suggest a creative process marked by performative experimentation and spatial action.

The creative process and the austerity of materials and tonalities in Grau's work might be seen as a nod to 1960s minimalism or abstract expressionism. Carrying on the legacy of monochrome painting, she addresses here the notion of reduction, both in a technical and aesthetic sense and from a conceptual perspective. There is only a minimal presence of pigment in her paintings. Using different textures of black and grey, she creates melancholy, abstract paintings evoking the loss of the natural surroundings resulting from the destruction of the forest. At the same time, they also highlight her reductionist creative process as an artist. The title of the work, on what is left, is also an allusion to this twin absence: what is left after the exploitation and human speculation of the landscape is just ash. What is left of the pictorial process after pushing the materials to the limit is close to nothing.

If we accept art theorist T. J. Demos's view of the decolonisation of nature, we can see a whole new significance in on what is left. According to Demos, in a context in which fossil capitalism has shaped the way we relate to nature, art – through its long tradition of experimentation and radical thinking – can play a crucial role in reconfiguring our perception and understanding of ourselves and the world. In on what is left Grau's commitment to exploring the relationship between human and natural resources not only documents the ecological havoc caused by forest fires and the human practices that have caused them, but also reflects on the transformation of the non-human through pictorial practice. In this sense, her work calls on us to reconsider our interactions with the environment and raises questions about the impact of colonising nature. By adopting a radically critical stance using the aesthetic experience —in line with Demos' vision— Grau seeks to generate a renewed awareness of what the notion of 'landscape' actually means, beyond its human understanding , and to imagine other ways of inhabiting and understanding nature. Ultimately, her art offers new perspectives for understanding our relationship with the world, as opposed to the destructive narratives embedded in contemporary capitalist societies.

[1] Demos, Thomas J. (2016). Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Sternberg Press, pp. 18-19.

Clara Derrac