the forms of being

Not only in art, the form is the soul
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

To the magical touch of beauty, the most secret fibers of our sensibility
they come out of their sleep; in response to the call made to them, they vibrate and
shudder. The spirit speaks to the spirit.
Kakuzo Okakura (1862-1913)

Serve these two quotes belonging to two contemporary writers and critics almost contemporaneous. Two paradigmatic characters who, from distant origins and different approaches -Wilde's provocation, Okakura's tradition- come together in a complexly integrating, integratingly complex thought. West and East shaking hands in aesthetic terms while distance and disputes marked deep political-economic differences. Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Herrigel, Sloterdijk, to name just a few German philosophers, built and continue to do so, constant bridges towards those distant currents of thought that had their origins in Indian Buddhism.

Precisely in Zen (Chinese-Japanese Buddhist drift) we will find the source of inspiration that animates this exhibition by Carolina Valls. The titles of the different series (naming is beginning to exist): Shibui, hosomi and yugen give a good clue to guide (never better said) the profound change in his career that undoubtedly opens this exhibition. The clear geometry, the "hard-edge" lines of previous stages have undergone a radical transformation from the rational and "a priori" decision to a much more open, intuitive and process-based approach. From the planned and controlled composition, to a process that takes shape in the creative act itself. Accustomed to the security (on the other hand, deceptive) of reason, I conceive this courageous step by C. Valls as a true leap into the void, the latter understood in its most Taoist meaning: the void as the possibility of everything.

Wilde and Okakura's ideas clearly amplify the meaning of the work of art, beyond the intention of the artist and the result, to emphasize the role of the viewer and their perception, while largely anticipating Maurice's reflections. Merlau-Ponty, masterfully collected in his last (and in a certain sense, his first and primordial) writing: The eye and the spirit. The essay is full of reflections as deep as they are beautiful (the beauty and truth pairing is always active and current) and although it is a bit long, it seems obligatory to cite an example that is as illustrative as it is applicable to this exhibition:
When I see the paving at the bottom of the pool through the thickness of the water, I don't see it despite the water and the reflections, but rather I see it precisely through and through them. If there weren't those distortions, those streaks of the sun, if I saw the geometry of the paving without that flesh, then I would stop seeing it as it is, where it is, namely: further away than any identical place. The water itself, the aqueous power, the viscous and reflective element, I cannot say that it is in space; the water is not elsewhere, but it is not in the pool. It inhabits it, materializes in it, but it is not contained in it, and if I raise my eyes to the screen of cypresses where the network of reflections plays, I cannot deny that the water also visits it, or at least that it sends its essence there. active and alive It is this irradiation of the visible that the painter seeks under the names of depth, space, color.1

Paul Klee said that color is "the place where our brain and the universe come together" and color is undoubtedly the personal territory where his painting continues to settle. White, black (the two totalities: subtractive -light- and additive -matter-) and their primary colors taken to an “electric” and electrifying extreme. Chromatic territory as a base on which lines and textures overlap or merge to form a reality beyond the work, inscribed in the viewer's perception, extended to Nature understood as that totality of which we do not cease to be part at the same time. as long as we contain it. Both the chromatic glazes and the linear grids make clear that ability to "see through" that connects matter, perception and imagination. Faced with the divisive position of rational analysis, C. Valls pursues and achieves from simplicity, from honesty, from humility, not only technical, that his forms vibrate and make us vibrate in unison.

Juan Bautista Peiro
Polytechnic University of Valencia

 

1 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. The eye and the spirit. Madrid. Trotta. 2013. p.54

 

 

Press release:

On May 18, Shiras Galería for the first time simultaneously presents two projects carried out by women artists, occupying its two rooms. In the main room, “Shibui” is inaugurated, the new project by the Valencian artist Carolina Valls (Valencia -1980). After the success of her previous participation in Shiras with the award-winning project 'Flexible', presented in the Main Hall during the Valencia Open 2019, it was only a matter of time to pick up the baton that the artist left behind to take it to its maximum exponent through an evolution, lyrical abstraction. A new language that emerges from the geometry and spatiality that had so characterized him so far to surprise through 18 works with a freer and more personal style that fluctuates between painting and drawing.

The term Shibui is one of the Japanese aesthetic categories (such as Wabi, Sabi, Hosomi or Yugen) and refers to the imperfect and unfinished, considering the very fact of creating and the path that is followed before the result is more important. Thus, this is a project based on oriental aesthetics, in which the important thing is the experience of the artistic object.

This is how the artist defines the show: A journey in which the essence of things is captured through an almost calligraphic path of brushstrokes, which implies the whole being. In addition, reference is made, through color, to the concept of light within the penumbra that Junichiro Tanizaki deals with in his book 'The Praise of Shadow', where some differences between Western and Eastern thought become visible, starting from of the perception that one has towards the habitable environment. Likewise, for this exhibition, Shiras Galería has had the collaboration of the critic Juan Bautista Peiró, who defines the artist's work as: A chromatic territory as a base on which lines and textures overlap or blend to form a reality beyond the work, inscribed in the viewer's perception, extended to Nature understood as that totality of which we continue to be a part while we contain it. Both the chromatic glazes and the linear grids make clear that ability to "see through" that connects matter, perception and imagination. Faced with the divisive position of rational analysis, C. Valls pursues and achieves from simplicity, from honesty, from humility, not only technical, that his forms vibrate and make us vibrate in unison.

Carolina Valls, with a degree in Fine Arts from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, has won numerous prizes such as painting from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos, honorable mention in the Painting prize from the Mainel Foundation and the second prize for painting. at the Isabel Comenge Biennial. In addition to various reviews written by critics of the national scene such as Román de la Calle and Marcelo Juame. To all this is added a great presence of his work in private and public collections, among which are the San Pío V Museum (Valencia), the Villafamés Museum (Castellón), the Mainel Foundation, the Castellón City Council, the Diputación de Ciudad Real, as well as CARSA ([private foundation], Bilbao) and the Juan José Comenge Foundation. Or her participation in her Solo Show at Art Paris during 2019.

With 'SHIBUI', the Valencian artist induces us to make a connection with nature and an appreciation for the everyday, getting rid of the concept of western beauty to induce us in oriental harmony. The artistic fact is related, then, with other cultural expressions, even with the senses, be they tactile, auditory, olfactory, gustatory or visual. Thus, creation is understood for the artist in this new project as a ceremony, a contemplative act, related to everyday aspects, as defined by the artistic director of the Sara Joudi gallery.

Meanwhile, in the Espacio Refugio the first part of the “Outsider I” project will be presented. A collective exhibition made up of five women artists who will present different representative works. Each one of them elaborated in different languages ​​that dialogue with each other with the aim of making visible their great plastic and creative quality. In Outsider I we present works by the artists: Rosa Torres (Valencia-1948), creator with a long career with work present in prominent museums such as El Reina Sofia and the IVAM. Cristina Gamón (Valencia-1987), winner of the BMW award and other prizes of great importance. Nuria Rodríguez (Valencia-1965), winner of the 2018 Senyera Visual Arts Award, presents us with two still unpublished works. Anna Herrgott (Herrenberg, Germany-1983), an artist with a long international career awarded with the Art-Art Award by the Magdeburg Gallery. And Alicia Torres (Valencia-1993), who despite her youth already has an interesting international career between Spain, England and China.

This exhibition can be visited at Shiras Galería until June 23, from Monday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturdays by appointment