Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Birch wood
50 x 30 x 30 cm.
Apr. 2012

This is the fifth piece of a project which I developed during the year I stayed in Sweden as an erasmus. The project theme was identity: what makes a person different? what makes each person special? what is an identity made of? why do we have the need to be so unique, yet so integrated in a group? what do we use to define our identity? this are some of the questions that define the proyect.

Groups also have identities, and have a huge rol in our society nowadays. We are social beings, we are small pieces of society, we need it to survive, to have all our needs covered, to be part of it we work, we have friends, we consume...and we make it work. A single person usually wont go too far, even behind the greatest personalities in history there is a lot of people working for them...That explains the shape of this sculpture, all the pieces together can rise higher, they are stronger and can achieve things that a single piece couldn't...a single piece would never be able to be a single spike

On the other hand, the spikes themselves have their own identity, as groups do...from bussiness, companies, political parties, even countries.When we think about them, they have their own atributes and do what we alone can't.

The piece is composed of lots of small wooden pieces, as a puzzle. I gave each spike it's shape, and then when it was polished, cut it in small pieces and glue it again. When all the spikes were ready, I glued them together and repeated the process with the lower zone.

Foundations

Foundations

Pinewood and birch wood
50 x 20 x 20 cm.
Jan. - Feb. 2012

This is the second piece of a project which I developed during the year I stayed in Sweden as an erasmus. The project theme was identity: what makes a person different? what makes each person special? what is an identity made of? why do we have the need to be so unique, yet so integrated in a group? what do we use to define our identity? this are some of the questions that define the proyect.

 An identity can't be created on your own. Afterall, your identity defines yourself in front of other people, it's what distinguishes you. Therefore, as an identity has a social component, it's only natural that society has an influence over it.

That's what this proyect is about, how an identity is greatly defined by society. Starting from where you are born, or where you've travelled, that gives you a language, which already makes your way of looking at the world subjective; that also applies to your culture, what you were taught at school, where do you live...

But it's also focused on how people influence you: your tastes, your ideas, your way of knowing the world is also marked by people, maybe they are people who you met only once, or your teachers, or your firends or family. Maybe they influenced you in a positive way, maybe as an opposite reaction of what you don't want to do or be, but everything and everyone influences you.

Made of a trunk on it's upper zone, and with different kinds of wood in the base, this different pieces of wood are the support of the upper piece, which is massif in contrast with all the small pieces of different woods which support it. The trunk wouldn't be able to sustain itself without the smaller pieces, just as nobody has an identity without the help and the influence of other people. I made this sculpture breaking all the guidelines I was given on my previous years of studies: gluing the wood pieces "against fiber", and giving them colour and wax coating before sculpting the upper zone, also gluing those pieces to a massive trunk. I encountered some problems but I also I learnt how to use the big machines, that are forbidden for students in Spain, I got to colour wood with anilines for the first time, I experienced with difficult gluings, and carved for the first time a trunk.

Ideas

Ideas

birch wood
60 x 150 x 100 cm.
Oct. 2010 - Jun. 2011

This is one of the most complicated projects I've ever made, and includes concepts and techniques which I had learnt in the previous projects.

The concept is based on the "ideas" by themselves: how are they born, how do they grow, expand and evolve. The piece is made of wood as it is an organical and "alive" material, the main concerns are the balance and the space where the sculpture stands, as it has lots of outer and inner spaces (the concept which I previously worked on the resin sphere). The base only has 20 x 20 cm. and it sustains a central pillar which holds 11 pieces, which balance the sculpture. Each piece has it's upper part polished, and the lower part maintains a raw look.

An idea is born from something small, a thought, an image, a sensation. Then it grows and expands, generating different versions of the first idea, the balance and the disctintion between inner and outer space is to represent the relationship that stands between the mental idea and the real world and it's materialization.

Technically, it has been one of the most challenging pieces I've ever made, this time I wanted to test my limits, it was a lot of planning, as I had to make each piece separatedly and then glue them together and keep sculpting. The size and weight the whole piece has made it really difficult, and towards de end I had to use a grinding disc for the first time.

I think this proyect summarizes well my way of working, it has everything I seek when I work, and also reflects well my evolution since I started studying arts

The Wooden Egg

Untitled

Birchwood
75 x 30 x 30 cm
Nov. 2008 - Feb. 2009

The second "big piece" I made when I was at my second year of Fine Arts. Again, we had to make a sculpture, but this time we could choose between stone or wood.

It doesn't have a concept, but starting from this piece, I've always tried to have a challenge in each proyect I start, in order to learn more and surpass myself. That has become a theme in all my pieces since then, no matter the piece's concept, there is always a personal technical challenge.

This piece's challenge was to empty the egg without breaking it, I learnt that I could start the piece in several parts and then put them together. Also,making the whole piece stable by itself, and finish it faster as I also wanted to try stone sculpting.

Root

"Root"

 Pinewood
 40 x 20 x 20 cm.
 Nov. 2007 - Jan. 2008


This is the first piece I made, when I started studying Fine Arts in Spain, I just had to make a wooden sculpture. No concept, no project, just find a form and adapt the best we could to the material; just it's name, "Root", because it's my first sculpture, I consider it the root of all my future work to come

I think it's a good chance to talk about the way I work. When working on a piece, or a project, I always have to think it very carefully, improvising or working spontaneously doesn't work well for me, I'd rather have everything well thought before starting, that way I can prevent problems and make sure it's something I want to invest my time in, as I consider it something interesting. Then I don't get bored while I work on it and therefore leave it unfinished. I think that I should invest my time only in things that are worth the time and the effort.

Also, for me it's basic to work with my own hands, and spend time working on a project. I like to think beforehand about all the details, but I also understand that each piece evolves as time passes, just as I do, sometimes differing a lot from the first idea. Working with the materials and the tools by myself gives time to the piece to develop, when I'm working on a piece, I'm putting my ideas, my time and even my feelings in it; as a sculpture piece usually isn't finished quickly, that's also part of the development of the project and the piece as it can envolve a lot of time an effort

 I think that art is not simply a concept. I also think that it is important to not only work on the concept but in the piece because that way the result is more than the add of the parts