Juan Navarro Baldeweg. La copa de cristal

25 february, 2004 - 28 april, 2004 /
Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey (Burgos)
Exhibition view. Juan Navarro Baldeweg. La copa de cristal, 2004
Exhibition view. Juan Navarro Baldeweg. La copa de cristal, 2004

To his distinguished career as an architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg (Santander, 1939) adds an important activity as painter and sculptor which goes back to the late fifties. His numerous prizes and distinctions in the field of architecture -among which the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal awarded in 1998 stands out- is in addition to an equally accredited record as an artist which saw him win the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas in 1990.

Navarro Baldeweg develops his pieces based on conceptual experiences which he works based on sets or series where colour predominates. From the mid-sixties he begins to introduce referential elements and, in the Eighties, painting occupies an important place in his production.

For this exhibition at the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos in Burgos, the artist has produced a special series of twelve large oil paintings. On this occasion, Navarro Baldeweg proposes a set of large, crystal glasses, crystalline and monumental. With them he represents a game between figurative limits, abstraction and colour, based on the indiscernible perception of the world. In the represented glasses daily motifsappear, like games between reality and its representation. With these creations the artist tries to blur the boundaries of figurative media, depicting scenes within other scenes, confused and passable.

His pieces can be viewed in varying degrees of appropriation, in a succession of imaginary planes, framed within each other, facilitating transit through them, expanding on a suggestion of passage, extension and collection. In the words of the artist: "The figures reflected in the transparency of glass now overlap what surrounds them and neatly spins on an imprecise backdrop. They are the mark of an apprehension and recreation sailing in the air like a distilled figure of something consumed visually". Light is the main protagonist of all Navarro Baldeweg’s creations: "Light is identical in both worlds, the scope of what is represented and the room that houses the glass object: both are crossed by the same lively luminous substance."

Exhibition´s details

Organized by: 
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Curatorship: 
María José Salazar