\
The Art History Department offers programs
Le issues of form and space, long-time
of study leading to the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D.
elements of concern to visual artists, come to
museum studies. The faculty rel?resents diverse approaches to the arts of all historical periods
art form. The three-dimensional reality and the
degrees, as well as a departmental diploma in
of the W estern world, and the department's
the fore in sculpture as directly as any other
depiction of sorne greater reality are tied most often to the interpretive skills of an intuitive
curriculum includes courses in non-Western
and deft artist. The physical presence of a
lectual overview of the history, theory, and
existence, convey ali that is essential within a
art. Museum studies courses provide an intel
practice of museum work, exposure to current issues, and practical experience. Courses are
also taught by curators from the Museum of
Fine Arts and other cultural institutions in the
Boston area. Graduate students in the program may thereby gain a combination of knowledge
and practica} experience necessary for careers in teaching or museum work.
In 1980, the Art History Department assumed
responsibility for the staffing and exhibition
program of the University Art Gallery, aided
by funding for operational costs from the
Office of Arts, Publications, and Media. Since
then, the Museum Studies Diploma Program
of the Art History Department has been central
to the University Art Gallery. Here Boston
University students, through graduate assistant
ships, curatorial seminars, and internships, are
trained in all aspects of exhibition planning and research, art handling and registration
practices, shipping and insurance, catalogue
production, publicity, exhibition installation, security, and educational programming.
An exhibition such as this not only reaffirms
the role of Boston University as a vital cultural
force but also provides an occasion for learning
by our students. Keith Morgan
Chairman, Art History Department Kim Sichel
Director, Art History Museum Studies Program
COVER: VOYAGE TO THE SUN, 7990.
sculptural piece cannot, in its mere fact of
given circumstance. Therefore, there must be a melding of skill and concept.
The program in sculpture at Boston University School of Visual Arts seeks to establish a base
on which skill and visual awareness are devel
oped and then the artist's concerns of content, expression, and style are added. The curricu
lum includes a foundation study of sculpture and drawing that leads to a more intensive
involvement within the problems of spatial
organization and three-dimensional expression. The primary motif is the human form and the
seemingly endless possibilities of interpretation. The abstract elements that are present in ali
works of art offer further points of departure,
which in turn allow for a personal viewpoint to
be effectively expressed in a skilled and techni cally sound manner.
lt is with great respect for tradition and the
integrity of the individual that the School
of Visual Arts intends to prepare students for the life of the artist. The work in this exhibi
tion adds to the variety of exposure and hints of the possible conclusion in the artistic
exploration of sculpture. Stuart Baron
Acting Director, School of Visual Arts
Sergio Castillo SculPture
EN ERGY TVADE VTSIBL
Boston University Art Gallery November 2-December 9, 1990
a a
E
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sergio Castillo Sculpture: Energy Made Visible has benefited from the special attention of many individuals. We especially appreciate the interest
and support of Jon Westling, president ad in
terim. Gerald J. Gross, vice president for Arts, Publications, and Media is also to be thanked for his assistance in expediting the catalogue produc
tion process. Thanks are due as well to those in the Office of Arts, Publications, and Media, The Office of Publications Production, and The Office of Photo Services for helping to produce the cata logue with such care, efficiency, and thoughtful ness. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Sergio Castillo and his wife, Sylvia Westermann, whose knowledge, assistance, and lively discus sions made the development of this exhibition such a pleasure. Arlette Klaric
Director
FOREWORD
As suggested by the title Sergio Castillo
Sculpture: Energy Made Visible, this exhibi tion invites its viewers to consider the larger significance of the sculptural properties and
sculptor's eternal challenge--to invest materials with a quality of life. Formerly, that life-affirm
ing quest centered on the human silhouette,
and success was measured in terms of anatomi
imagery of this Chilean artist's work. Castillo's
cal verisimilitude. In this century the focus has
century innovations. In particular, it may be
and manifest in the dynamics of motion and
sculpture represents a marriage between
traditional sculptural values and twentieth
appreciated within the context of the Russian
constructivism of Antaine Pevsner and
aum
Gabo and the direct metal sculpture of Pablo Picasso and Julio Gonzales.
Like these predecessors, Castillo departs from
the conventions of carving and modeling to
shifted to the more universal, immaterial
aspects associated with ali orders of existence change, the passage of time, and human consciousness.
In Castillo's sculpture that expression of life
centers around the phenomenon of energy,
which is witne sed in the imagery, sculptural
form, and technical evidences of process. His
adopt a construction method akin to that of
sculpture is distinguished by its evocations
brass, stainless and corten steels. He employs
into space. The sculptural silhouettes and
architecture. In place of stone, wood, and cast metals, he utilizes industrial materials-iron,
industrial techniques of forging and welding,
of forces that seem to bend the metal into
dynamic compositions and impel the forms
textura! variations of the surfaces produced by
which allow him to sculpt with an immediacy
his forging and welding speak of the elemental,
niques. The enclosed volumes and monolithic
resiliency of the metal, its blend of resistence
and opportunity for improvisation unequaled
by that of traditional carving and casting tech
forms that defined sculpture until this century
are replaced with openwork compositions and planar-oriented forms. They invade and mold
the surrounding spaces to make them integral
parts of the sculptural compositions.
Acknowledging the shift in modero sculpture
away from the human form as its preeminent
concern, Castillo's work favors a vocabulary of
abstraction. His imagery encompasses a range
of natural forms and phenomena: material and
immaterial, cosmic, biological, geological, and
human.
In its content and purpose, however, Castillo's
sculpture sustains a historical continuity. His
art upholds sculpture's traditional concern with
humanist content and a public function. A
seen in this exhibition, his smaller-scaled sculp
tures are conceived both as completed works of
art and as models for the public monuments
that are his preferred projects. He takes on
what has over the centuries become the
physical act of creation that pits the artist's
aesthetic vision and technical skills against the and malleability. As told by the themes of the
sculpture in this exhibition-eruption,
conception, gestation, encounter, desarrollo
(unfolding), freedom-his imagery focuses on
the release of energy, the interaction of oppos
ing forces. The intersections of energy, forces, matter, and human will represented by
Castillo's images celebrate life's potentials and
transcendence. In so doing, Sergio Castillo's
sculpture fulfills the historie mission of sculp ture to inspire as well as to affirm. Arlette Klaric
Director
SERGIO CASTILLO - A
Q U ES T FO R F R E E D O M
by Jennifer Canizares
The direct metal sculpture of Chilean artist Sergio Castillo is widely
recognized for its expansive energy and power. Through hi choice of
material, process, and imagery, he create works that burst into and then
embrace their surrounding space. His soaring forms deny the weight of
their metallic substance. The energy-charged silhouettes, surfaces, and
spaces of his sculpture give aesthetic expression to the values of freedom and individuality - values that form the core of Castillo's personal phi
lo ophy and way of life.
Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1925, Castillo started his training in art as a tudent of architecture. In 1948 he went to París for a year, where he
pursued formal training in painting at l 'Ecole de Beaux Arts and the
Julian Academy. After returning to Chile, he could not afford to con
tinue his art studie for severa! years. A friend introduced him to sculp
ture as a hobby, and immediately Castillo was drawn into modeling and
carving as a form of personal expression. In 1954 he enrolled in the
School of Art in Santiago as a beginning student. His success was rapid; he won first prize in the school competition in both his first and second
years. At twenty-seven, Castillo carne to sculpture with a powerful,
intuitive understanding of the art form.
Sergio Castillo discovered the direct metal process while in Italy in 1957. He had started with traditional techniques of carving and modeling, but
had always felt constrained by their limits. "I began in stone and wood,"
he says, "but these materials are limiting. In stone you must create the
idea before the sculpture. You have a block insid which the sculpture must remain. You might want to go off in sorne unforeseen direction,
adding another piece as it evolve , but you can't." While preparing a
student show in Rome, Castillo encountered a bicycle repairman welding pieces of metal - and he was inspired to make welded sculpture. As an artist, he would be able to expand into space as he created, and to work
independently. "In metal I have freedom. I can cut and make and add
anything, and I do it ali myself. If you work with cast metal, you must
give it to a foundry to finish. Wh n you work directly, you can begin the work and finish it without the help of another person. And because it is not contained within a block of stone, you do not have to anticípate it
evolution. You begin, and the creativity continues until it is complete." When Castillo returned to Chile to work in metal, he encountered a
skeptical and sometimes ridiculing audience. "Sorne of my teachers
laughed at my work. They said, 'Why do you work in metal like this? lt
is so cold - it is not beautiful. You are good in stone; you are wasting your time.' " During those years he worked independently to acquire technique. "When I started, I didn't know how to weld. I bought a
machine for welding and the salesman explained only how to open the
machine - that was it. I learned sorne things from blacksmiths, but I
had to learn most of the techniques on my own. Artists were working in
direct metal in other parts of the world, but I didn't know them. We ali
made the same mistakes as we learned to use the medium. At first, my
work was very abstract because I was only beginning to discover the pace."
Those sculptors who eventually influenced his work shared his interest in
the use of space. "I believe the finest twentieth-century sculptor was
Henry Moore. I admire his use of positive and negative space - his
attention to the space between objects. He was strongly influenced by
pre-Colombian art in Mexico that makes the same use of space. I was also influenced by the work of Antoine Pevsner and Naum Cabo. They too
worked with direct metal in interesting ways to enclose space."
Castillo's early abstract works used a wide variety of "found" objects:
nails, horseshoes, spurs, plow , picks, and other items. "At that time, I didn't know how to cut or bend the metal very well - I preferred to
find the pieces." His subjects frequently derived from his childhood
memories of living on a farm - two ubjects in particular: the bull and
the cock. Today he remembers, "On the farm of my father, there were
two or three bulls, and for us the bull was a special animal. Every bull had severa! cows - it had a special life - a good life. I used the bull
because it is energy, it is power. The rooster had many chickens and was very proud. These animals symbolized a relationship between man and
woman that I liked at that time."
"I worked in the abstract for about ten years, and then became more
figurative. Today I am again b coming more abstract. Working in the United States encourages this. Much of the indigenous art of the
American lndians - the Eskimos, Northwest Coa t lndians, Mexican ,
and others - is very abstract."
As Castillo's work has become widely recognized and highly prized, he has been invited to create many public monuments. "I like big pieces that will be seen by ali the people. I don't want to make a bibelot -
sculpture for the salon or dining room, next to a lovely flower. Most of my pieces, even while I make them small, I envi ion as large works."
He has created more than forty public monuments throughout the world,
including the memorial to the Working Man in Madrid; Erupción, a large
abstract sculpture in the Parque de las Esculturas in Santiago (1988);
a sculpture at the Tajamar Building in Santiago, which wa the first
abstract outdoor sculpture in Chile (1965); a five-meter-high abstract
Ave-Fénix III, 1988
Christo for the Verbo Divino Church in Santiago (1964); the Phoenix on
the grounds of the Hospital del Trabajador in Santiago (1982); and Free
at Last, a memorial to Martín Luther King, Jr., at Boston University (1975).
The quest for freedom and individuality that led Castillo to direct metal
work is also a philosophical conviction for the artist. "For me, the issue
of human rights is very essential in the world. lt is a human position that
appears in many ways in ali my work. lt starts with the Christ - he
6
fought for human rights. I made the monuments to Martín Luther King, Jr., and a project in memory of the Holocaust. The important thing is the idea of freedom and human rights. Ali of these works have this in common." The imagery of Castillo's work resonates with energy and power. His forms seem to defy gravity and to escape their static condition. The
Lunar Wave captures the moment of maximum height and power of a breaking wave. The Phoenix rises with more than the force of a bird taking flight: it embodies the revivifying power associated with the myth of the Phoenix. At times, the airborne aspiration of his sculpture has made for challenging installation problems. His monumental Explosion, on the plaza of the Arthur G. B. Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering at Boston University, was a source of concern for engineers during its construction. A massing of square tubes of stainless steel describes an explosion and appears to be in impossible balance. In fact, it is counterbalanced by heavy slabs of concrete far below the plaza's surface; thus it can soar twenty-six feet above ground without central support. A restlessness and struggle for personal independence have always domi nated Castillo. His life has been one of constant change and migration, by choice and by political consequence, which have had great influence on his work. "I am always ready to move on. I have been married four times.
I have always changed countries. I was happiest in my life when
I arrived in Spain with no money. I lived in a camper, and moved about as free as a bird. I went to Europe after the military coup in Chile, in tending to live in Paris, but I ended up in El Escorial, Spain. I carne to Boston just to do the King memorial, but found myself staying to teach. Now I spend part of each year in Boston, in Chile, and in Spain, and have a studio in each country, each one with the same equipment. Sorne times when I am working I don't remember which country I am in." Castillo finds great pleasure in the variety of metals he uses and seems to forro a friendship with his material. "When you work with metal you are not alone. Each kind tells you what you can do and you both work at the same time. Maybe you say, 'I'll make this,' but the metal says, 'No, that's no good.' lt teaches you until you get to know it, and then you create with it according to its own possibilities." He enjoys the knowledge that the metal itself has a story. "For me, the best metal is old iron because it has history inside it. This is the way also with found pieces - they contain their stories. When I began, I did not like to work with new shiny metal. I still do not like aluminum - it has no interna! life. Bronze and brass are very beautiful, but they are mix tures, not pure like copper. Copper is natural - you use it as it comes from the ground - but it is very soft and difficult to use. My work is not soft. I make things big and strong. Sometimes, if I work with copper, I hide some steel inside to strengthen it. Today I work often in corten steel because it rusts on the surface only and the rust provides protection for the metal. For work that is outdoors, such protection is important if the sculpture is to last for many years."
7
As a professor of sculpture at Boston University School for the Arts, Sergio Castillo offers students an alternative avenue of expression. His techniques complement the traditional carving and modeling of the human form that provide the basis of the School's curriculum. In his words, "A university must introduce the student to ali of the possibili ties. Then they choose what they like and what feels right for them. Today it would be ridiculous if a school failed to offer work in direct metal. Fifty percent of the sculpture made for outdoors today is direct metal. The price for direct metal sculpture is nearly four times less than for casting at a foundry. "To be a serious student of art, you must acquire technique. You must know the discipline of drawing and painting. It is like music: to make music you must know the notes. If you begin work in metal without this knowledge, without basic skills, in the end you will only copy another sculpture. You must learn the human body to know ali the forms and to know when the balance is good. Then, if you want to do it in direct metal, you can produce a different image." "I do not believe you can learn to be an artist: it must be inside. If you have nothing inside, it is impossible. You may make something withoul a mistake, but with nothing inside, you have nothing to say. Teaching is very important to me. Young people represent another generation that can teach me something - the new mentality. I think that art is the reflection of the time - war, or sickness, or revolution. Contact with young people gives me perspective on those events." The success of this restless, energetic, creative mind is unquestionable. Castillo's work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America, and is included in collections of the Kremlin, the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, the Museum of Modern Art in Seville, the Pan-American Union in Washington, D.C., and the Fine Arts Museum in Santiago. He was invited to act as a cultural liaison with the governments of Great Britain, France, West Germany, and the United States, and has represented Chile in the Sao Paulo Biennial, the Paris Biennial, and the Latin American Exposition at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. He was professor of sculpture at the School of Fine Arts in Santiago from 1965 to 1973, and held a Fulbright visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968. Today, as he migrates from continent to continent, Sergio Castillo pursues his personal vision of liberty, independence, and human rights. Through images of conception and birth, of breaking waves and birds in flight, of tension and explosion, and through symbols of social and per sonal transition, he continues to awaken us to the emotional power and universal potential embodied in the process of perpetua! becoming, a process synonymous with life and freedom.
8
Satnurai IV, 19BB
11
Memorial for a Friend
t2
III,
1989
Despegue
I5
II,
1989
Encuentro II, 1988
16
Voyage to the Sun, 1990
17
Concepciรณru
1B
Il/,
1989
Gestaciรณn, 1990
19
CHECKLIST OF THE EXHIBITION
Dimensions are given in inches, with height preceding width and depth.
II/,
L. Sa.murai 56
x
16
x
10. Erupción
19BB
12 inches
III,
1990
78 x 88 x 40 inches
bronze, welded
2. Aoe-Fénix
III,
stainless steel, welded
ll.
1988
Design in
II/, 1990 inches
Spa.ce
50x8x6inches
7l x75
bronze, forged and
brass and stainless steel,
welded
welded
3. Memorial for a Friend
III,
x
12. Desa,rrollo
4O
II,
¡
1990
1989
51 x 62 x 50 inches
38.5x21 xSinches
stainless steel, welded
bronze, forged and welded
13. Door of the Perception
II,
199o
4. Concepción IV, 1989 50 x 20 x 15 inches
80
x
100
x
15 inches
corten steel, welded
brass and bronze, forged
and welded
14. satellite 2O
5. Despegue
II,
1989
28x4lx7inches
II/,
x l7 x
19W
18 inches
bronze, forged and welded
stainless steel, forged
and welded
15. Gestación, 1990
20 x32 x 18 inches 6. Freedom
II,
1989
65 x 52 x 24 inches
bronze, forged and welded
iron and stainless steel, forged and welded
16. Go Home, 1990 32 x 53
7. Yoyage to the Sun, 19%) 66x4Ox9inches
x
16 inches
bronze, forged and welded
brass and bronze,
forged and welded
17. Moon
[/,
1990
x
19
x
24
8. Encuentro
II,
1988
24x42x9inches
10 inches
bronze, forged and welded
bronze, welded 18. Luna,r Waoe, 1989
9. Dream, 1990
20
24x16x5inches
2ÍSxMxl0inches
stainless steel, forged
brass, welded
and welded
.