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5/7/2006

The Blacksmiths’ Alchemy

SUPEC Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, Shanghai

The exhibition The Blacksmiths’ Alchemy, which can be seen until 31 August at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center (SUPEC) in Shanghai (China), is the result of a collaboration agreement between the Institut Valencia' d’Art Modern (IVAM) and the Shanghai International Culture Association (SICA). This agreement governs an exchange of exhibitions between the organizations proposed by SICA in China and the IVAM. The local office of SGAE (Authors and Editors General Society) in China has collaborated in the show, as well.

The exhibition organized by the IVAM, with works by Julio Gonza'lez, Marti'n Chirino, Andreu Alfaro and Miquel Navarro which belong to its collection, reveals the importance of the invention of iron sculpture in Julio Gonza'lez’s sculptural work, and the influence that it has had on subsequent generations of Spanish sculptors who have made repeated use of iron, such as Marti'n Chirino, Andreu Alfaro and Miquel Navarro. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition contains illustrations of the works selected for the show and texts by Consuelo Ci'scar, A'ngel Kalenberg, Toma's Llorens, Vicente Jarque and Francisco Calvo Serraller.

Since the creation of the IVAM, Julio Gonza'lez’s work has formed the foundational core of the museum’s collection. His work introduced new references in sculpture, not only in Spain but also in other countries, as is shown by the number of his works that are to be found in museums all over the world. In the IVAM’s collection, in addition to works by Julio Gonza'lez, there are 18 works by Andreu Alfaro, 530 works comprising paintings, collages, drawings, sculptures and books recently donated by the sculptor Miquel Navarro, and 5 works recently donated by Marti'n Chirino.

The Blacksmiths’ Alchemy shows a selection of the finest work of these four sculptors. It also offers a description of their personal aesthetics and projects the points of connection between them. The show establishes a dialogue between the sculptures and drawings made by these four fundamental artists from the IVAM collection, and their internationally acclaimed works are enhanced by this joint presentation.

The Iberian peninsular was one of the most important mining and metallurgical centres in the world. And in Spain and China the mysticism of metalworking and alchemy have always been closely related. It is not surprising, therefore, that blacksmiths are surrounded by a vast mythology which comes down from the Middle Ages.

It is impossible to imagine modern Spanish sculpture without thinking of that magical, ancient, primitive, animist seam in which art and technological objects mingle indiscriminately. Picasso’s wiry sculptures have almost imperceptible anthropomorphic characteristics, while Julio Gonza'lez confronts modern technological society with his scrap metal sculptures, appropriating technological and industrial procedures and paradoxically taking them back to the magical world of the Iberian smith.

In these last years Andreu Alfaro has practised a kind of sculpture which emphasizes anthropomorphic outlines and is predominantly linear, following Julio Gonza'lez’s tradition of considering sculpture as “drawing in space". Marti'n Chirino is associated with working with wrought iron; his early sculptures are similar to tools, while his more recent works include explicit tributes in titles such as Homenaje a Julio Gonza'lez (Homage to Julio Gonza'lez). And some of the Ciudades (Cities) made by Miquel Navarro, using remnants of industrial scrap such as iron sections or shelving pegs, demonstrate his desire to pursue the tradition of Julio Gonza'lez.

SUPEC Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center
Shanghai

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