Carmen Laffón. La viña

Laffón has spent much of her life in Sanlucar de Barrameda, a city that centres around the world of the vineyard and she is part of all the rituals surrounding its cultivation, from pruning to harvesting. Her work is heavily influenced by this wine-producing, whitish land, the variety of strains, the vintage, the wineries, with its distinctive architecture of arches, shadows and gardens; the taverns, vintagers, wine merchants and the sea. But Laffón flees empty culturalism and decrepit local customs, facing the issue with an undeniable originality.

Among the pieces at the exhibition La viña at the Abbey de Silos, coal drawings of views of the vineyard stand out, along with others of espuertas (baskets with two handles, that used to be made out of esparto grass, palm or cane but that are now made out of rubber and were used to transport cut bunches), several bronze sculptures and a high relief.

The carbon, large-scale drawings in the exhibition have been conceived as a large frieze in an apotheosis of whites, blacks and greys in which the movement of the trunk and fronds of the freshly cut stocks, contrast with a dense background of fruit, pines and eucalyptus. In line with these, though somewhat more sober, are the charcoal espuertas and along with them bronze espuertas, some full of grapes and others empty; they are installed with a particular rhythm on the floor, forming a very suggestive collection.