According to the Toba catastrophe theory, a supervolcanic event 75,000 years ago at Lake Toba, on Sumatra, triggered an ice age that changed the course of human history by creating a bottleneck in evolution. When looking at Matías Duville’s images, one wonders whether a second global catastrophe of major proportions is due any moment, for the artist is a chronicler of disaster, registering in his paintings the aftermath of a cataclysm.

In 2003, at this gallery, Duville presented his first drawings—nightmarish images of swimming pools surrounded by a thick, ominous liquid, drawn on small pieces