Miquel Barceló - Matter and Form. From Matter to Metaphysics. (de/sp) - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

Miquel Barceló - Matter and Form. From Matter to Metaphysics.
For the first time in Austria, 55 year-old Majorcan Miquel Barceló displays has an individual exhibition in the Bank Austria Kunstforum, from December 12, until March 10, 2013. Curated by Florian Steininger, the retrospective combines works from all important stages of his career. The oeuvre of Miquel Barceló won first recognition at the biennial of Sao Paulo, in 1992 he had an exhibition at the Documenta in Kassel, and in 2009 he represented Spain at the biennial in Venice.
In the seven halls of the exhibition we can see the sea of Majorca in almost three-dimensional paintings, as well as ceramics, bronze sculptures, desert paintings made in Mali, and pictures of fruit with an almost erotic appearance. In one hall there are pictures of bullfights and crucifixions of animals, in another black portraits reminding of negatives. The works are a testimonial of the artist’s Mediterranean roots, his very peculiar personal style and his way of permanently experimenting with the material.
Explosion of colours, decay of the organic, layering of material : In the relation between the creation and the creator, his preferences and anxieties, the poetical-chaotic magma of fish, sea shells, apes, humans, squid, seas, deserts, the crucified and the rotting, our perception becomes aware of the beauty of decay.
Even though his ceramics, manufactured with simple methodology and much understanding of the spirit of the clay, his pots, bowls and plates, with their organic appearance and touch, owe their form to their function, under the gaze of the viewer they gain a status of ritual objects.
Barceló gives us an insight into his creative process, where matter becomes the primary means of expression, and where in the rough surfaces of the paintings something serious and obstinate, even violent, becomes perceptible. The bursts of sensual creativity are evident, unfolding together with a scrupulous registering of what is observable in the world: Subjects distorted by the agitated perception of the artist.
Characters and settings are repeated. However, what really counts is the outcome of this synopsis. It does not matter whether it is reality or fiction - the feeling of having a place in the world is shaken when the ground becomes unstable, when it starts to move. Our surrounding becomes insecure, devoid of a permanent central point lending sense and security to our existence. Therefore it is impossible to establish an overarching relationship; the configurations of reflecting about the world are produced by art and fiction.
Barceló does not pretend to any objectivity, but aims for the poetic as a stimulus for the imagination within a dialectical relationship, indicating the constructed character of his discourse. This enables us to appreciate the illuminating charm of his work – as results of Barceló’s inner disputations about the ability of art to reveal our reality. The artists distributes the work in space and the space in his work in his own way, enabling the viewer to transit the images, adding his own experience of contemplation. Space and colour as a proposed reality are designed as an example of the expansion towards the sculptural and the architectural.
Barceló is not glamorous or trendy; he is attracted by nature and also by risky topics like zoo animals. He is resistant towards current trends; his art has an existence apart of the mainstream. He is one of the artists who constantly reinvent themselves, taking up on new topics and situations in order to create atmospheres and characters, redirecting his senses to new things, eventually leading him to the obsessions that define him, and of which he tells us whenever he emerges from his hermitage. This very fertile poetry has become an unmistakable trademark of his art by now. (written by Cem Angeli)

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