Antagonia Materica

From the 25th of April until the 29th of September 2013

Cristóbal Gabarrón presents us with an exhibition held jointly in the MURAM and the Cartagena Roman Theatre, which develops itself around the dialectics between material, shape and the presence or absence of both. Fibreglass, a contemporary and industrial base, coexists in this exhibition with modest, simple clay used ancestrally, which recalls the latent primitivism of man. Alongside them, iron, with its industrial, definitive character forms the basic support, the interior soul that will give life and sustenance to these material creations.

On occasions referred to as a “colour humanist”, Gabarrón links his creativity to the harmonious or destructive coexistence of the interior and exterior worlds that surround him. As though it were about neoplatonic duality, his

creations alternate the human and animal form with the expression of more radical or subtle ideas, all through the medium of chromatic abstraction which becomes figurative in some of his pictorial works. Two parallel worlds that are interrelated through painting and sculpture. The offspring of the impaled ones represent union, a point of intersection of the two aspects of man, destructive and creative; the angles and edges turn into wounds from the past which generate a new field in sculptural development.

Clay, a millennial material introduces us gradually to the exhibition. Simple and primitive, it has been modelled by men from all eras and cultures. Gabarrón adds to this evolutionary concept by exhibiting it in harmony with iron, squeezing its ceremonial and ancestral character out of it, giving rise to very personal iconographies and forms, three dimensional pieces or engravings that are part of the pallid, muddy

Mar de Almendros. Pigmented oil on wood. 200 x 400 cm, 2013.

decoration that envelopes each and every one of the pieces in the series “Clay Soul”.

expression and artistic force, inviting the visitor to observe in different ways, depending on the lighting and the chosen viewpoint.

The series “Rectangular”, “Interior Landscape” and “Circular” display the painter’s constant experimentation with fibreglass and form. The texture of the base becomes an integral part of the work; the material and pigment converse intimately, giving the result: pieces of work that show marked

On this occasion “Rectangular” produces a figurative vision of facts, realities or recent social events that Gabarrón wants to emphasise, capturing the free, musical spirit of the “Flower Man”, positioning pictorial sculptures in “Positioning” or referring

Versus V Oil pigment on rustied iron and resin 310 x 130 x 60 cm.

2010

to his most recent fears: “My Demons”. Together with them, in a constant dialogue, the sculptures from the series “The Impaled Ones” form a game centred around dimensions and surfaces, black outlines that generate edges and polychromes that simulate the pictorial surface, duality of types and shapes for similar expressions, wounds and scratches that are the result of creative rupture, which is necessary to make room for new life; the creation that has come from the large explosion prior to it.

In the ample exhibition room of the Cartagena Roman Theatre, the tri-dimensionality of sculpture finally gives way to the immensity of the horizon, to the lost, daydreamy gaze of the Mediterranean Sea, or the whitish, pinkish waves of the fields of almond trees in blossom.

Julio César García Rodríguez

Empalado V Rusted and treated steel and polychrome 297 x 122 x 80 cm.

2010

Wamba 6 Mixed media on canvas 200 x 600 cm. (3 unid. 2 x 2 m) 2008

La Palmera Polychromed clay and steel 153 x 175 x 145 cm.

2008

Paisaje Interior I Oil pigment on fiberglass 123 x 123 cm.

2010

Hombre Flor Oil pigment on fiberglass 115 x 87 cm.

2010

Felicidad Pigmented oil on fiber glasss 125 x 125 cm.

2010

A Cabalo Pigmented oil on fiber glasss 125 x 125 cm.

2010

Acentos 12

Acentos 13

Policromed clay

Policromed clay

4 x 43 x 29 cm.

6 x 39 x 28 cm.

2007

2007

Almacabra 4 Policromed clay 34 x 27 x 20 cm.

2007

work only understands life. We could say that his vision of art is clearly anthropocentric; the individual, life, coexistence and development of human values are pillars that not only his artistic work but also his personal beliefs are based on.

Cristóbal Gabarrón was born in 1945 in Mula (Murcia). Perhaps his childhood, which was marked by moving to Valladolid, where he did his first training, or his travels to France and Italy, or his current work which he carries out between Spain and the USA have caused him to have an open and discursive mentality.

The mural for the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games and the mural “Encuentro 92”, for the Seville World Expo (1992), the great sculpture project “Atlanta Star” (1996), the realization of the piece of work “Hope for Peace” (1986) which was the official poster for the Summit, or the “Millennium Chapel” (2000-2001), represent important milestones in his career, whilst commencing a fruitful creative period, which is ongoing today, marked by the collaboration with international organisations such as the IOC or the UN.

Far from aesthetic conventionalisms focusing on isthmuses or the avant-garde, which he has participated in one In latter years he has equally way or another at a fixed moment, his maintained his traditional link with

other artistic disciplines, as demonstrated by the recent creation of two sets, one for the show “Nuevo Amanecer” by the flamenco singer José Mercé and the other for Edward Liang’s “Noche Latina!” show for the Washington Ballet, in exactly the same city where the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center has exhibited some of his most recent pieces of work.

has supported the progressive creation of three foundations, in Valladolid, New York and Mula (Murcia), where his main desire is to give something back to society, by means of artistic and cultural activities, creating awareness through the arts. (www.gabarron.org)

Critics and historians as renowned as Donald Kuspit, commissioner and professor at the University of New York, Kosme de Barañano, professor of Fine Arts at the Miguel Hernández University, or Julián Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art at Kansas City, have proceeded to carry out thorough analyses and studies of his career, gathered together in the plentiful bibliography that has appeared over the last years.

Rusted and patinated steel.

Eager to put something back into the society he received from, since 1992 he

246 x 78 x 60 cm.

2010

Empalado IV

Fiberglass polychrome

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Tuesday-Saturday from 10.00am until 8.00pm Sundays and holidays from 10.00am until 2.00pm Scholar visitors and other reservations: Telephone: 968 50 48 02

www.teatroromanocartagena.org