b-inspired Exhibitions
Álvaro Soler-Arpa
End of the world sculptures
Soler-Arpa enters the contemporary art market, introduced by Miguel Marcos Gallery, presenting its last creation of apocalyptic feel.
'Sculptures of the end of the world' is a collection of artworks of different sizes made by hand with wire threads, iron rods of different thicknesses and animal skulls. These materials give shape to 'beings' living in an environment that the artist considers apocalyptic, a reflection of what is happening in the world. It is a place where there is no longer space for spirituality and a possible apocalyptic scenario that the artist places in the not too distant future if things do not change.
Álvaro Soler-Arpa brings a personal vision of the world today and the intervention of man expressed through three concepts: fear, ego and the supposed rationality of the human being. A subjective and poetic perspective of what society of consumption is causing on the planet, reflected in a long list of disorders such as the excessive exploitation of resources and widespread mistreatment of them, the exponential increase in population density and longevity artificially enlarged as Google and other mega-corporations do, devoting much of their profits to the investigation of immortality at a scientific level.
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For the artist, fear is behind the negative actions that exist in the world (desertions, clashes and the need for protection). The ego is at the origin of these actions and leads to violence and lack of dialogue. Finally, what does it mean to be rational when you are committing so many unreasonable madness? He asks himself.
The new Soler-Arpa work is a border (divagation) in which the artist does not know if he is in a negative and catastrophic mood, or in a sharp and objective realistic and apocalyptic lucidity. "When I am catastrophic and apocalyptic, I am almost certain that I am being lucid," he says.
For him the end of the world has a unique and clear genesis, which is the male ego (name of one of the main pieces of the exhibition). A feeling that "has existed and been fed from the beginning of life on earth, to reach the planetary and destructive scale that today boasts. The male ego is nourished and possesses a purely sexual and reproductive principle, and has been necessary for the survival of man and all species, but from there it spreads to many other spheres", in his opinion.
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The starting point of the end of the world lies in the ego and excess that occurs in the encounter of two males. That encounter that englobs and automatically provokes competition, makes those two beings of any kind totally lose sight of their environments to see only one objective: to defeat their opponent. To do this, in that struggle, they will crush the babies around them, destroy the land their feet step in the fight, they will invent chemicals that will make them stronger, they will pollute rivers, deforest jungles and plunder the seas. The coincidence of two females can also be competing and devastating, but they tend to have more common sense as they do not suffer from excessive ego.
"I like the idea of the artisan becoming an artist.The artisan acquires a mastery derived from many hours of manual work. This expert knowledge is a base. To approach art from that discipline gives a significant force to work. I consider the artist as someone explosive and impulsive in terms of creativity, but also patient when it comes to shaping that creativity. I enjoy my work from the inside out and drawing is my main tool in the creative process. I attach great importance to the "physiognomy" of the lines and forms so my work is much closer to the figurative than any other style. From my point of view anatomy and nature are magic, in the full sense of the word. Nature can make miracles, medicine and technology do not. I consider nature as my main source of inspiration away from the purely human and the achievements of technology. Working with bones during the last 7 years has been a way to be in full contact with nature, to explore and deepen the concepts of life, death and evolution."
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Álvaro Soler-Arpa (Girona, 1974), specialized in drawing at the Escola d'Arts i Oficis in Olot (Girona) and in illustration at the Escuela Llotja de Barcelona. After a professional career of fifteen years in the fields of advertising and film, drawing "shooting boards" for directors such as Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Alejandro González Iñárrritu (Beautiful) or JA Bayona (The Impossible), in 2005 began to link his work to the plastic arts and to carry out sculptural works and installations. He is a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, and since 2014 he has been an ambassador of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, one of the most influential environmentalists in the world, and in February 2016 he exhibited "Toxic Life. We are nature in toxic evolution."
- From 25 October to 30 November
- Galería Miguel Marcos
- C. de les Jonqueres, 10
- www.miguelmarcos.com