b-inspired Artists
Rachel Valdés, Insight
Visual artist Rachel Valdés (Havana, 1990) invites viewers to enter a universe where light, reflection and colour become vehicles for introspection. The exhibition brings together a selection of sculptures, installations and interventions that redefine the boundaries of the visible and the intangible.
The central focus of Valdés' work is a constant investigation into perception. In her own words: ‘I am interested in that middle ground between the real and the mental, between what is out there and what we construct internally when we look.’
Her artistic practice is articulated between painting and sculpture, two languages that, although they belong to different dimensions —one two-dimensional and the other three-dimensional— she understands as part of the same quest. In painting, colour is born from matter; in sculpture, it emerges from space, reflection and light. This duality between the tangible and the illusory shapes an aesthetic in which the viewer becomes an active part of the work. ‘I don't seek to represent anything, but rather to activate a more conscious, more present form of perception. What interests me is the moment when something changes in the viewer,’ says Valdés.
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INFINITE COMPOSITION. Laminated safety mirror, stainless steel structure, polyamide rear projection screen, sound system.
1,000 × 400 × 300 cm. Havana Biennial (Cuba) -
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For Rachel Valdés, art is not an object but an experience of presence. Her works, many of them made with laminated mirrors, stainless steel, glass and sound, create environments where visitors see themselves reflected and integrated into a space that seems to expand beyond the physical.
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This quest responds to an aesthetic philosophy that conceives art as an act of revelation, a means of questioning reality and exploring the limits of human perception. In his own words: ‘I am attracted to the idea of making the viewer a fundamental part of the work, providing a state of presence, recognition and contemplation, creating a dialogue between the subject, the object and the environment.’
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Her installations generate a type of sensory immersion that transcends the visual to delve into the spiritual, proposing a reflection on time, memory and the relationship between the physical and the mental. For Valdés, art is a language that connects matter and energy, body and consciousness, reason and emotion.
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Among the works on display are some of the most emblematic of his career, such as Composición Infinita (2015), Transición 2, 4 and 7 (2025), Pyramid (2014), Reality (2014) and The Beginning of the End (2016).
Until 13 December
INFINITE COMPOSITION (2015). Laminated safety mirror, stainless steel structure, polyamide rear projection screen, sound system. 1000 × 400 × 300 cm. Havana Biennial (Cuba)
TRANSITION 2 (2025). 180 x 200 cm. Mixed media, canvas
TRANSITION 4 (2025). 180 x 200 cm. Mixed media, canvas
TRANSITION 7 (2025). 40 x 50 cm. Mixed media, canvas
PYRAMID (2014). Polished stainless steel sheets, stainless steel structure. 300 × 60 × 60 cm. Pyrenees (Spain)
REALITY (2014). Polished stainless steel sheets, stainless steel structure. Variable dimensions: 300 × 120 cm, 290 × 100 cm, 280 × 90 cm. Havana (Cuba)
THE BEGINNING OF THE END (2016). Laminated safety mirror, stainless steel structure, marine board and Dibond. 1000 × 300 × 200 cm. Times Square, New York (USA)
- Galeria Mayoral
- C. Consell de Cent, 286
- 08007 (Eixample)
- MON-FRI: 10AM–7PM h SAT: 11AM–2PM
- www.galeriamayoral.com
- www.rachelvaldes.com