View to the memories. "Piscinas" by Rachel Valdés
16/04/2023.
Galería La Cometa [MAD] Spain 4.05 > 16.06.2023
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
Rachel Valdés presents her exhibition named “Piscinas”, where she transports viewers on a trip to Havana. The settings are empty swimming pools that were part of the landscape of the Cuban capital, and twenty pieces of art created from different techniques such as photography or watercolours among others. The exhibition is located in the La Cometa Gallery, Madrid.
In this exhibition, the artist Rachel Valdés explores how swimming pools are uninhabited and she finds great artistic beauty in these architectural pieces. The artist proposes a trip to her hometown, back in time – to the nineties – and to a stage, the empty pools, without water, that inhabited the landscape of Havana.
Piscinas, brings together twenty pieces by Valdés, from watercolours to photographs, through digital drawings or a sound installation. It is the first time that this series (whose work she began more than ten years ago) will be shown to the public.
In this exhibition, the artist Rachel Valdés explores how swimming pools are uninhabited and she finds great artistic beauty in these architectural pieces. The artist proposes a trip to her hometown, back in time – to the nineties – and to a stage, the empty pools, without water, that inhabited the landscape of Havana.
Piscinas, brings together twenty pieces by Valdés, from watercolours to photographs, through digital drawings or a sound installation. It is the first time that this series (whose work she began more than ten years ago) will be shown to the public.
"Piscina con doble trampolín I" by Rachel Valdés, 2023. Watercolor on cardboard (90 x 115 cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"El salto II" by Rachel Valdés, 2023. Watercolor on cardboard (90 x 115 cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Piscina azul profundo" by Rachel Valdés, 2023. Watercolor on cardboard (188 x 130 cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Morado" by Rachel Valdés, 2023. Watercolor on cardboard (188 x 130 cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Piscinas" by Rachel Valdés. Photograph by Anton Goiri.
"The Beginning of the End",2016. Installation New York. Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Pirámide" by Rachel Valdés, 2015. Installation in the Pyrenees. Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Cubo azul" by Rachel Valdés, 2015. Installation in Havana. Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Una vez en el tiempo 00" by Rachel Valdés, 2021. Oil on canvas (270cm x 250cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Into the Space 6" by Rachel Valdés. Oil on canvas (250cmx230cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Into the Space 8" by Rachel Valdés. Oil on canvas (300cmx250cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
"Piscinas" by Rachel Valdés. Photograph by Anton Goiri.
The pieces that we can see in the exhibition come from the lived experiences of the Cuban artist Rachel Valdés from Cuba in the 90s. Her work is full of architectural and geometric references where perspective takes over elements reminiscent of those pools culled from her memories.
“I think somehow these patterns are stuck in my subconscious to this day. What I draw resembles inverted pyramids, archaeological remains of buildings and cities that I once dreamed of and even explored. I meticulously remember almost all its details, straight lines from one end to the other to emphasize its rationalist architectural roots. I represent these images, which are part of my imagination, to bring the viewer closer to that state of perception that I want to experience and share”.
Rachel Valdés.
In the exhibition we perceive doses of figuration-abstraction ambiguity, "it interests me as a possibility to disturb, as an argument for improvised stories or to suggest narratives suspended in the air and that now have a specific weight", the artist points out. "Pools, as almost urban elements, paradoxically underlie the intimacy of my dreams. They are attached to my spectrum of formal obsessions such as pyramids, walls, labyrinths, architecture in general: all components of my journeys inside and outside myself".
The artist uses drawing and watercolour because her study of gouache perspectives and her colour allows her the freedom to approach a practically archaeological point of view. He became known internationally with large immersive installations and giant abstract paintings, but in Piscinas, Valdés returns to drawing and watercolour.
“Drawing for me has always been the basis of everything. When developing an idea, I start with sketches and previous drawings. Let's say that perspective, mathematical calculation and the staging of a three-dimensional form within a two-dimensional space, are something that has fascinated me since the beginning of my studies. That idea of creating optical illusions through a surface. I think that this dichotomy that I always try to connect in my general discourse arises from there, that relationship between the material world and the immaterial world, the objective of the subjective, the physical and tangible, together with the opposite”.
Rachel Valdés.
"Piscina azul profundo" by Rachel Valdés, 2023. Watercolor on cardboard (188 x 130 cm). Image courtesy of Rachel Valdés.
It wants to arouse the viewer's curiosity and seek the need to know beyond what is seen with the naked eye. The interpretation of those who see the works helps to finish the history of the art that is created, Valdés leaves the way for the perception of the one who sees it.
«That feeling of not finishing the story, or like at any moment it can have a completely unexpected ending. With my sculptures, and also with the series of drawings that I present in this exhibition, I like to leave an open path for perception and interpretation».
Rachel Valdés.
More information
Exhibition
"Piscinas".
Artist
Dates
From May 4 to June 16, 2023.
Location
La Cometa Gallery. C/ de San Lorenzo, 11. 28004 - Madrid, Spain.
Photography
Rachel Valdés
Rachel Valdés lives and works between Madrid and Havana. He has created important public art projects, among which his participation in the Havana Biennial stands out during the years 2012, 2015 and 2019. The last work created for this Biennial, Immersion, was acquired and permanently installed as cultural heritage of the city.
Her work is part of several private and public collections, including The Donald Rubin Foundation (New York), The Rockefeller Brothers Foundation (New York), Pérez Museum (PAMM) (Miami) or Fundación Calosa (Mexico).
In 2016, Valdés received the first prize, awarded by The Rockefeller Brothers Foundation and The Cuban Art Fund, exhibiting her first public art work in New York City, titled The Beginning of the End. Exposed for two months in Times Square, this piece had a great reception and impact. It is estimated that more than two million people passed through the work. “It was an interactive installation made with different mirrors that generated new ways of observing the urban space”, explains the artist. "The piece allowed the viewer to walk through it, creating new perspectives to understand our relationship with the environment in which we live."
Her work is part of several private and public collections, including The Donald Rubin Foundation (New York), The Rockefeller Brothers Foundation (New York), Pérez Museum (PAMM) (Miami) or Fundación Calosa (Mexico).
In 2016, Valdés received the first prize, awarded by The Rockefeller Brothers Foundation and The Cuban Art Fund, exhibiting her first public art work in New York City, titled The Beginning of the End. Exposed for two months in Times Square, this piece had a great reception and impact. It is estimated that more than two million people passed through the work. “It was an interactive installation made with different mirrors that generated new ways of observing the urban space”, explains the artist. "The piece allowed the viewer to walk through it, creating new perspectives to understand our relationship with the environment in which we live."
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