Landscape, inextricably linked to the tradition of painting, has emerged in recent years as one of the most interesting areas of research in contemporary art. If, in past centuries, artistic practice unveiled new landscapes to the world, in today’s practice there has been a paradigm shift, a call warning us to be vigilant about their conservation. The contemporary landscape ‘to be protected’ prevails over the landscape ‘to be discovered’ that inspired the Romantic spirit, acquiring new connotations and becoming an object of aesthetic, ecological and ethical reflection.
For more than three decades, Calo Carratalá's collections have been inspired by his travels. It is an essential part of his work and a breath of fresh air in his trajectory, which has led him in a constant search for perfection and elevation in his painting.
The abrupt, desolate and breathtaking snow-capped mountains of Norway, the innermost zones of the Amazon rainforest or the inspiring plains of Africa are just some of the scenes to which Carratalá returns, almost obsessively, time and time again, demonstrating an unwavering restlessness to explore the fragile path that separates abstraction, art and nature.
Carratalá has spend most of his life deciphering the world through his skilful and intimate brushstrokes, which draw on the history of art to subtly and boldly establish themselves in the contemporary world. With an impeccable technical approach, he delimits fragments, perspectives and backgrounds that evoke emotion and permanence.
His works are born from a free, expressionist gesture, composing concise, lined, precise and corrected features, anchoring their firmness in talent and tenacity, in the value of what is internalised, of what is assumed.
There is no space, everything is time. Africa in memory is a site-specific project designed for this university centre and inspired by Carratalá’s series on Tanzania and Senegal, where he has been working since 2018. The artist recreates this space, transforming it into a refuge and a pictorial temple where he can capture the heartbeat, the light and the radiance of the lingering breath that perpetuates the memory of the landscape he has captured. The senses travel through the depth and the magic of vegetation, undergrowth, reflections, water and sky. The wonder, the stillness that precedes restlessness, melancholy and fulfilment transcend levity and alacrity. An enigmatic lushness, dense and clear, a glow of greens, blues or whites, a blend of air, colour and time.
Three baobabs stand tall in the cloister, awaiting the visitor's steps. They are strong and revered trees, an ancient species with deep roots that is now mysteriously dying in Africa. Carratalá has painted them in red on a white background, showing their singularity and the blood of their wounded beauty. The desire to reproduce their image is a reflection of the vulnerability that haunts these uncertain times.
Drawing has the power to connect one with the eternal, to unite generations of artists, to merge oneself with distant civilisations and cultures. The same technique that has been used since prehistoric times to represent visions, ideas and dreams continues to reflect our surroundings, capturing the sensation of the moment and the awareness of memory. The cadence, the precision of each mark, the immediacy of the glance, the truth perceived before the fleeting image, the expressive interpretation of lines and shadows, make drawing the essential practice of art, the purest discipline, the first expression.
Marisa Giménez Soler, art historian and curator of the exhibition.
