Cruz novillo. Sculptor
Sculptures of time, space, light, sound, bronze, aluminum, wood and paper.
Del 16 de noviembre al 16 de diciembre de 2018
Comisariado: Zvonimir Kremenić & Espacio Primavera 9
Fotografías: Odnoder
Since November 16th, the Madrid gallery Spring 9, has an exhibition of 116 pieces including sculptures, paintings and video installations, which show the artistic facet of the prestigious Spanish designer, José María Cruz Novillo. He gained National Design Award 1997, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2012 and academic from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, combining his work as the designer of modern Spain and his artistic activity.
The exhibition “Cruz Novillo. Sculptor “distributes the sample in the three rooms of the gallery. In the black room we show CHRONOCROMOFÓNICA, composed of time, space, light, sound, wood and paper. In the first white room, LA CUADRATURA DEL CÍRCULO, a whole development of the concept conforming the largest artwork in his history. And in the second clean room, there is a careful sample of bronze, aluminum, wood and paper sculptures. “It is a perfect summary of the long journey of the creator from 1972 to the present. They are in the foreground of a challenge to time and space, also true protagonists of the creative work of Cruz Novillo, where chromaticism and contrapositions move along with these masterpieces.
FROM PAINTING TO VOLUME
The exhibition “Cruz Novillo, sculptor. Sculptures of time, space, light, sound, bronze, aluminum and paper ”is an essential opportunity to learn about the work process of a creator who“ begins in the meditation of the plane; then it goes to relief and ends up conforming, coagulating, in the fullness of the real volume ”, description made by the critic Santiago Amón in 1985 for the exhibition at the AELE gallery.
The creator of the corporate images of Correos, public treasure, the shield and flag of the Community of Madrid, Bank of Spain, and a long etcetera except the posters of films such as The Spirit of the Beehive, Histories of the Kronen, Los Monday in the Sun, among others, the creative process reveals in this exhibition, behind all that work.
THE CONCEPT OF DIAPHRAGM
This is the inspiring concept of all Cruz Novillo’s work. This value that has been found in all of her works since the early nineties.Creating a common characteristic that is the combination of a variable number of monochromatic, sound, photographic or three-dimensional elements.
The good proof of this are some works exhibited in this exhibition: the Empty Sculpture series, Helicoide series of increasing equilateral triangular prisms and 35 Preparatory Drawings of the complete cycle of empty sculptures.
CHRONOCHROMOPHONE
This term was coined by the author before the work Diaphragm Decafónico de Dígitos, which was followed by Diaphragma Heptafónico 49, opus 13, and the work shown in the present exhibition Diaphragma Dodecafónico 8.916.100.448.256, opus 14. The works created under this premise also serve the diaphragm concept, with the addition that the sound is part of the work.
Dodecaphragm 8,916,100,448,256, opus 14 is considered the largest work of art in the world, because its duration is 3,392,732 years, 102 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes and 21 seconds, and can be viewed continuously in the websitewww.cruznovilloopus14.com
The antecedents to this new art form are Twelve-tone Diaphragm Songs, also present in the exhibition “Cruz Novillo, sculptor. Sculptures of time, space, light, sound, bronze, aluminum, wood and paper ”.
THE SQUARE OF THE CIRCLE
Starting from the minimalism of the shape of the drawing, Cruz Novillo decided to create in 1965 a work made up of sixteen wooden cubes, “The squaring of the circle.” In 2014 Cruz Novillo resumed the development of this work creating one hundred identical pieces to the original, but made of folded paper instead of wood. Arranged in a 4 x 4 grid, the six sides of each cube are different, and four of those in turn have four different positions, as they rotate 90o.
Taking advantage of the possibilities of this work, Cruz Novillo created the sub-cycle “Blind works”, where both himself and other invited artists (Canogar, Alfonso Albacete, Campo Baeza, etc.) created works using this artifact blindfolded, and later they signed them at the bottom of them.