Claudi Casanovas (Barcelona, 1956) makes experimental and subjective sculptures using ceramic techniques, a discipline that is usually associated with the craft tradition. The Artur Ramon gallery exhibits until April 21 Materia i origen, a suggestive selection of his sculptures made since 2013, and presents them in dialogue with works by other artists and other periods: medieval and noucentista art, Chillida, Tàpies , Henry Moore... It also coincides with the exhibition that Casanovas presents at the Museu de La Garrotxa d'Olot, until May 1, where he presents his latest series, Mother, which evokes Paleolithic female deities and also later Casanovas' work usually has a material character, with a volcanic aspect. His sculptures look like petrified energy, and in fact they really are: mud plus fire plus air and cold. Ceramics, free of applications and services, is transformed into experimental sculpture, between ideal and chance.
Riera The Marlborough Barcelona gallery and Riera i Aragó (1954) celebrate fifty years of activity by this Barcelona artist with a retrospective exhibition, The beautiful journey (until March 25). The exhibition brings together works that its author has kept over the years because they had a special meaning for him. The sculptural group Submarines of the Balearic Islands (1977) stands out, composed of seven unique bronze pieces. Each one represents a different island, with different tones and textures. Mallorca is the richest and most varied; Menorca and Illa de l'Aire evoke wind, erosion and lichens and seem the wildest; Sa Dragonera has a mysterious aspect, with dark nuances, and the brightest are the pieces representing Formentera, Ibiza and Cabrera. They are seven wall sculptures, island-ships with the bow facing downwards, which can evoke not only an archipelago, but also a group of totemic characters. And the diptych of airplanes from 1990 is also remarkable. The flying artefacts of Riera and Aragó seem to be evolutions of those exhibited by the Belgian artist Panamarenko already in the seventies, but the Barcelona native has been able to develop his work with personal accents and artistic richness in its various variations on a few themes: ships to fly that become signs, ships to submerge and deepen (or their vestiges). Propellers, zeppelins and submarines refer to travel, without losing the textures and materiality of immediate life.
Xcentric The new generations are interested in experimental cinema. Full rooms and tickets sold out in some Xcèntric sessions. Young, female, international, intergenerational audience. This season has seen wonders such as Notes from light music by Lis Rhodes or Computer music studies by Blanca Rego and Miquel R. Nieto, among others. And on Thursday, March 16, Spacecut (1971), by Werner Nekes, and Declarative mode, by Paul Sharits, will be screened. Volcanologist Haroun Tazieff's filming on Etna and the smoking mountain Erta Ale will close the season in May. And the growing Xcentric Archive, with more than a thousand films, can be visited permanently, from Tuesday to Sunday. A privilege that many Barcelona residents have not yet discovered.
For those unfamiliar with experimental cinema, I recommend that they visit the exhibition dedicated to Bruce Conner, which has been extended until April 23, at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies. And that they pay attention, especially, to the visionary cinema of Looking for mushrooms – fast and expanded versions –, to the hypnotic and atomic Crossroads (1976), to the first masterpiece of audiovisual collage ( A movie , 1958) and to the video clip Mongoloid , for the group Devo. A warning: certain screenings are automatically interrupted and must be reactivated by exiting and re-entering the room.
