Juan Gabriel Sutachán Rojas

Filmmakers

Juan Gabriel Sutachán Rojas

Artist

Universidad de los Andes

Bogotá, Colombia

jsutacha@uniandes.edu.co

https://www.instagram.com/jgsutachan

Statement

"Surfing the Infinite Loop" In this visual loop, a surfer-painter rides a palette-board atop a recursive wave, endlessly painting himself into existence. The piece uses the Droste effect—a form of recursive imagery where a picture contains itself in a nested sequence—creating a paradox of self-reference inspired by Escher’s explorations. The wave’s curvature alludes to logarithmic spirals, evoking the geometry of growth and infinite recursion. Here, painting and surfing converge: both demand balance between control and surrender. As each iteration collapses into the next, the work blurs distinctions between creator and creation, motion and stillness, surface and depth. Animated for Bridges 2025, this piece visualizes mathematical recursion as a poetic force within the act of artistic emergence.

Films

Image for entry 'Surfing the Infinite Loop' — Surfing the Infinite Loop
00:01:29
Juan Gabriel Sutachán Rojas
2025
Watch

In Surfing the Infinite Loop, the wave becomes both canvas and recursion—an allegory for the endless cycle of creation. A surfer-artist, suspended between control and chaos, rides a surfboard shaped like a painter's palette, rendering his own image as he is engulfed by the very wave he paints. The composition employs the Droste effect to dissolve the boundaries between the observer and the observed, the real and the represented. This visual paradox draws from Escherian principles, where recursive geometry meets narrative illusion. As each iteration unfolds within the painting, the viewer is invited to question authorship, temporality, and the nature of self-reference. The ocean, a symbol of motion and unpredictability, contrasts with the meticulous act of painting—a metaphor for the tension between spontaneity and structure that defines both surfing and artistic creation.