Guillermo Carrion home 2
To compare Spanish artist Guillermo Carrion and Italo Calvino could be overstretching things a little but both Carrion and Calvino use the city as a metaphor for human nature and as a theme within which to explore the microcosmic layering of human existence.
The city, to both the writer and artist is an alluring entry point from which to question what it is like to be human. Cities to them are intricate webs where every walk of life is visible and every dream and nightmare a possibility.
Carrion is a Madrid-born artist and he makes what his gallery is calling post-graffiti art. A dweller and voyeur in some of the world’s most important cities, he trained at the exclusive Cooper Union school in New York, which gives you an idea of the talent that lies behind this man’s creations. This is a solo show but most of the pieces were previously shown in a group exhibition with Barnstormers, the sprawling collective of which he is a founding member. The opening at the Joshua Liner Gallery in New York got a lot of people excited not least because it gathered a significant amount of work by the Tokyo/New York-based group in one place but because it included work from artists considered to be the best in their fields.
Alone, Carrion’s art carries no less of an impact. The Montana gallery will feature his 3D city pieces for which he is becoming famous for; the demi-god benefactor Charles Saatchi has shown interest. A seemingly new style, his works mix sculpture and painting with layers of foam, paint and colour. His cities are full of the detritus of all cities; taxis, shop fronts, graffitied walls. His play on perspective gives you a birds-eye view whilst remaining on the ground.
If you’ve ever lived in a city, you will no doubt have been hit by the sheer heaving vitality of the place at some point. Whether it was New York, Berlin or Rome, all cities carry with them an influential force that makes you wonder from time to time how it can be sticking together as one relatively harmonious piece. It is little wonder that writer and artist alike continue to be inspired by the metropolis. They are bursting, literally overflowing with inspirational sights.
Las Ciudades Visibles at Montana Gallery from December 10th until February 5th.
www.montanagallerybarcelona.com