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15/9/2004

Susana Solano

Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid

The first occasion to view this artist's sculptures in Madrid since 1994, this show features recent work made over the last two years in various formats in metal, plus a video. These are ambiguous, strongly independent works, each one centred on itself yet linked with the others through associations of memory. In fact, we might well call them ''metaphors of thought'', suggesting as they do ambiguous relationships with landscape, the human being and the senses.

''I need to take what surrounds me into consideration, especially when I doubt and I cannot make myself understood'' Although this quote from the artist is from 1995, it is as valid today as it was back then.

The first room of the gallery showcases three sculptures from the series ''Huella desnuda que mirar'' [Naked Print to Look At], 2004, evoking a passage toward the past and to what it is yet to come … Each piece consists of a concave (elliptical) part in stainless steel. The smooth curved form it ''contains'' seems to come away from the wall in some areas. The working process with its handprints and handling marks has been left visible. A flat section, equally elliptical and either polished or with a satin sheen, appears under the volume, setting up a dialogue between the two parts. The results bring to mind some drawings Solano made at the beginning of this decade.

The other sculpture, in this case free-standing, in this first space is a gigantic stainless steel cap. In it, we can visualise the traces of a distribution and transpositions. Based on vertical planes screwed together, it reconstructs the initial stage of the form of the container and subtly expresses an obstacle during the visual overview of the piece. Only the title, ''Edehi'' 2004, provides a reference to the real: edehi is the Tuareg word for a dune.

Next to these sculptures a double video-projection titled ''Amb noms'' [With names] 2003, is on view. The artist defined it as follows, ''even though they are images showing the spaces of uninhabited abstract cartographies, the unreal or confusing events happening on the two screens in continuous motion triggers off a flow of consciousness evoking a timeless reality (…) The landscape on the left screen shows a repetitive and paradoxical act or ritual by means of an image: a dog's tongue licking a surface. Yet the image does not ever transgress the territory of the right screen''.

The second room houses a large format free-standing work: ''No sé el teu nom'' [I don't know your name] 2003-2004, in painted iron and stainless steel. The central structure of the work is made evident in multiple directions. The slightly bent mesh panels are a consequence of the structure supporting them. They create a field fenced-in among transparencies; a contradictory play of expansions, embraces and ''controlled'' boundaries.

Susana Solano was born in Barcelona in 1946. She lives in Sant Just Desvern and has her studio in Gelida. She has had one-person and group shows in many galleries and museums worldwide. Her work has been seen in international events like Documenta 8 and 9 in Kassel (1987, 1992), São Paulo Biennial (1987), Skulpture Projects in Münster (1987), Venice Biennale (1988, 1993), and the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh (1988).

For more information, CV, interviews with the artist, images and slides, contact the gallery

Galeria Helga de Alvear
C/ Doctor Fourquet, 12 28012 Madrid
Hours: 11am-2pm, 4:30pm-8:30pm

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