Page 48 - RAFAEL CARRIO Escultura

Lines in space, lines in time. The sculptures, sometimes static, sometimes in
movement, are capable of filling the environment that surrounds them, of completing
the empty space, bewitching the spectator´s eyes which as if by magic become part
of the mystery, like another part of the work, like one more element of the mythical
creative world.

Works such as “ Al viento “ (In the Wind) or “ Deseo Colectivo II “ (Collective
Wish II) use the curve to create dynamism. Like the tree that feels its branches
shaken by the blowing of Eros, “ Al Viento “ twists its wood, invading the space that
is not its own, giving form to time in rhythm, in the sound that one suspects through
the silence.

The artist´s eye roves over the History of Art, coming to rest again on that era full
of contradictions that made the 17th century Spain´s Golden Age. Taking Velázquez
as his example, Rafael Carrió interprets the figures of “ Las Meninas “ with an
absolutely contemporary vision, abstracting them to their pure essence. The rich
fabric of the dresses has been replaced by iron and concrete, the faceless figures
are reduced to a single plane, the new Meninas do not live in the palace of Philip
IV, but in the metropolis of today, among the cars, the huge buildings and the grey
pollution that darkens the sky.

The mosts surprising thing about Carrió´s art is that each and every one of the
sculptures seems to communicate to us something that goes beyond its simple
expression. They are truly aesthetic images, which never lose their elegance. The
elongated forms, the sinuosity of the curves, contrast with the concrete with its
references to brutalist architecture, to the compact, as against the wide space that
opens up to us and bring us toward the work. Circles, rectangles, straight lines and
planes are the formal universe of a world imagined and lived by the artist himself,
who uses geometry without for a moment losing lyricism.

Trees, human figures, architectural forms, all these live in the fantasy of the artist,
who with his sensitivity has the ability to transport us to a space where tradition and
modernity take the form of sculpture, and wonder, for a few moments, makes itself
present in our lives.

Texto Catálogo “Mirar y Veure”. Exposición Casa de Cultura, Alzira. Febrero–1997

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