Universitat de València made and is now showing at an ambitious exhibition, which is one of the greatest exhibitions to date, the original and provocative imaginary of artist, Carles Santos, from Castellon. “Santos Universe. The enthusiasm of Carles Santos" perseverance is running across the Cultural Centre La Nau, the 50 years of trajectory of this integral artist who combines in one person the figure of a musician, composer, musical and theatrical director, visual creator, author of cinematographic works and dramatist.
Carles Santos (Vinaròs, 1940) who is considered to be one of the most prolific and interesting artists of the Spanish vanguard of the last decades. His impressive and always provoking performings, his concerts, as well as his multitudinous proposals (1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, the celebration of the V Centenary of Borja’s year, or the concert for one thousand musicians at the opening acts of the Biennial of the Príncipe Felipe Museum of the City of Arts and Sciences) projected on him an image of a “terrible child”, of an unclassified artist who frequently obstructs a deeper knowledge of a distinguished work with plenty of prizes.
“Santos Universe. The enthusiasm of Carles Santos” exhibition becomes the precursor to the tribute which Universitat intends to carry out next 23rd of June, when in the framework of the “Nit of Sant Joan” (The Night of Fire) the institution gives its medal in the Senate of La Nau. The Caixa of Vinaròs Foundation, CulturArts or the IVAM added themselves to this project and will offer concerts in the framework of the Ensems and Serenates al Cloister Contemporary Music festival, as well as a film series dedicated to Carles Santos which will be celebrated in the IVAM, between the 7th and the 10th of July.
The show, which will be curated by Josep Ruvira, can be visited until next 30th of August throughout two halls of La Nau, the Estudi General and the Sala Acadèmia, the largest of the historical university building. The exhibition gathers its cinematographic works, endless of scenography elements of its spectacles, unpublished images, the last productions of the artist and more than ten of its unique involved pianos. The exhibition was presented on Tuesday at a press conference which had the participation of Antonio Ariño, Vice-Principal of Culture and Equality of Universitat de València; Josep Ruvira, curator of the exhibition; and the artist Carles Santos.
Antonio Ariño outlined the work “in constant metamorphosis and transformation process of an artist whose imagination is connected to the historical tradition of the grotesque”. Furthermore, during his intervention he said, the rest of the Valencian public universities are connected to the tribute which Universitat de València will give the artist with the concession of the medal of the institution and which all of them will create the Carles Santos Plastic Art Awards.
Carles, Santos, who defined himself as a “classic artist”, has expressed his satisfaction before this great exhibition, to which he invited to come as the best way to know his universe, which he preferred not to give any details on, so that each one can discover it by himself.
“We are before one of the greatest expositions ever made to Carles Santos. The keys are there, the constant ones of their universe, but we cannot talk about the retrospective exhibition, because Carles Santos introduces variations in his artistic production, which is never finished, just as any music production. Santos is permanent in a “work in progress” state”, sais Ruvira about an artist with a varied catalogue inspired “in the vanguards, conceptualism, American musical minimalism or post-modern conscience”. It is an intersection of different artistic languages, in which Santos makes music, theatre and plastic arts coincide, and in which some subjects such as religion, gastronomy ad eroticism prevail. And above them all, the piano, which has become a visual poem and which visually materialises with the series of exposed pianos which took part.
“Santos Universe” intends to give clues, to establish bounds, to introduce a perspective and, after all, to configure a map, an imaginary one, which with a work can be oriented but that most of the people it only arrived in a fragmentary way.
Universe through video editing
The Estudi GenerSala al de La Nau shows six great video editing of what constitutes the most synthetic and complex part of its work, its operas or musical drama, whose staging gathers all the abilities and artistic languages which Carles Santos works with.
The video editing allude to six great constantly of the poetic imaginary of the artist: the piano, to the water and the sea; sex, wickedness and religion, gigantism and the weightlessness; the body and the gastronomy, and the multitudes and the great spaces. In this space a selection of impressive historical photographs of different formats taken by the artist and extracted from photographic series as “La Polpa de Sta. Percinia de Clavicònia”, “Els ulls dels fills de Bach” or “Caligaverot”, have been exposed, among others. There are also bibliographic and discographic publications, scores and posters which show its artistic trajectory in every aspect and which has as a common denominator the constant aesthetic of the oneiric world imagined by Santos.
Piano: fetishism or centre of the universe
The series of the “the involved pianos” star in the Sala Acadèmia of the building. If the first part had a more historical component, this hall gather the most recent creations in which the piano has fundamental role. In this space there are around ten pianos which have been transformed by the artist in original artistic elements. The public will be able to watch “the wicked piano”, with great high heels; the “turbo piano” with a stabbed screw on it which shows the relationship of the artist with the sea; the piano listener; the piano splashed in paint and tar; the end of the life of the piano...
The piano is the urge of Santos’ universe; his desire, his yearning; his starting point of his artistic genealogy. In the first room it is considered by many to be “king of the instruments”, it occupied a main space in the filmographic creations and it is here, in the Sala Acadèmia, where it acquires a dimension as a fetish object and it represents the different relations which are established with the artist: piano/torture, piano/work; piano/desire; piano/sex; piano/end...
Most of these pianos are accompanied by oversized scenographic elements and are shown with a theatrical lighting -which the scenographic director and illuminator Carles Alfaro have worked in- highlighting its significance.
It is not the first time that Universitat de València participates in the artistic production of Carles Santos; and he did it with the order and interpretation in charge of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Universitat de València of “L’adéu de Lucrècia Borja (2001)” chapel, which later on became an opera.
“Santos Universe. The enthusiasm of Carles Santos” exhibition becomes the precursor to the tribute which Universitat intends to carry out next 23rd of June, when in the framework of the “Nit of Sant Joan” (The Night of Fire) the institution gives its medal in the Senate of La Nau. The Caixa of Vinaròs Foundation, CulturArts or the IVAM added themselves to this project and will offer concerts in the framework of the Ensems and Serenates al Cloister Contemporary Music festival, as well as a film series dedicated to Carles Santos which will be celebrated in the IVAM, between the 7th and the 10th of July.
The show, which will be curated by Josep Ruvira, can be visited until next 30th of August throughout two halls of La Nau, the Estudi General and the Sala Acadèmia, the largest of the historical university building. The exhibition gathers its cinematographic works, endless of scenography elements of its spectacles, unpublished images, the last productions of the artist and more than ten of its unique involved pianos. The exhibition was presented on Tuesday at a press conference which had the participation of Antonio Ariño, Vice-Principal of Culture and Equality of Universitat de València; Josep Ruvira, curator of the exhibition; and the artist Carles Santos.
Antonio Ariño outlined the work “in constant metamorphosis and transformation process of an artist whose imagination is connected to the historical tradition of the grotesque”. Furthermore, during his intervention he said, the rest of the Valencian public universities are connected to the tribute which Universitat de València will give the artist with the concession of the medal of the institution and which all of them will create the Carles Santos Plastic Art Awards.
Carles, Santos, who defined himself as a “classic artist”, has expressed his satisfaction before this great exhibition, to which he invited to come as the best way to know his universe, which he preferred not to give any details on, so that each one can discover it by himself.
“We are before one of the greatest expositions ever made to Carles Santos. The keys are there, the constant ones of their universe, but we cannot talk about the retrospective exhibition, because Carles Santos introduces variations in his artistic production, which is never finished, just as any music production. Santos is permanent in a “work in progress” state”, sais Ruvira about an artist with a varied catalogue inspired “in the vanguards, conceptualism, American musical minimalism or post-modern conscience”. It is an intersection of different artistic languages, in which Santos makes music, theatre and plastic arts coincide, and in which some subjects such as religion, gastronomy ad eroticism prevail. And above them all, the piano, which has become a visual poem and which visually materialises with the series of exposed pianos which took part.
“Santos Universe” intends to give clues, to establish bounds, to introduce a perspective and, after all, to configure a map, an imaginary one, which with a work can be oriented but that most of the people it only arrived in a fragmentary way.
Universe through video editing
The Estudi GenerSala al de La Nau shows six great video editing of what constitutes the most synthetic and complex part of its work, its operas or musical drama, whose staging gathers all the abilities and artistic languages which Carles Santos works with.
The video editing allude to six great constantly of the poetic imaginary of the artist: the piano, to the water and the sea; sex, wickedness and religion, gigantism and the weightlessness; the body and the gastronomy, and the multitudes and the great spaces. In this space a selection of impressive historical photographs of different formats taken by the artist and extracted from photographic series as “La Polpa de Sta. Percinia de Clavicònia”, “Els ulls dels fills de Bach” or “Caligaverot”, have been exposed, among others. There are also bibliographic and discographic publications, scores and posters which show its artistic trajectory in every aspect and which has as a common denominator the constant aesthetic of the oneiric world imagined by Santos.
Piano: fetishism or centre of the universe
The series of the “the involved pianos” star in the Sala Acadèmia of the building. If the first part had a more historical component, this hall gather the most recent creations in which the piano has fundamental role. In this space there are around ten pianos which have been transformed by the artist in original artistic elements. The public will be able to watch “the wicked piano”, with great high heels; the “turbo piano” with a stabbed screw on it which shows the relationship of the artist with the sea; the piano listener; the piano splashed in paint and tar; the end of the life of the piano...
The piano is the urge of Santos’ universe; his desire, his yearning; his starting point of his artistic genealogy. In the first room it is considered by many to be “king of the instruments”, it occupied a main space in the filmographic creations and it is here, in the Sala Acadèmia, where it acquires a dimension as a fetish object and it represents the different relations which are established with the artist: piano/torture, piano/work; piano/desire; piano/sex; piano/end...
Most of these pianos are accompanied by oversized scenographic elements and are shown with a theatrical lighting -which the scenographic director and illuminator Carles Alfaro have worked in- highlighting its significance.
It is not the first time that Universitat de València participates in the artistic production of Carles Santos; and he did it with the order and interpretation in charge of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Universitat de València of “L’adéu de Lucrècia Borja (2001)” chapel, which later on became an opera.
Last update: 26 de may de 2015 13:16.
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