Xavier Corberó

(Barcelona, 1935 - Esplugas de Llobregat, Barcelona, 2017)

Untitled

middle 20th Century

polished and matted stainless steel

60 x 60 x 6 cm

Inv. no. 36460

BBVA Collection Spain


This Catalan sculptor began his practice at a very early age, coming as he did from a family of artisans who had been working with metal for three generations. A close friend of Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), whom Corberó described as his “first patron”, he is widely considered the most important Catalan artist since Gaudí (1852-1926). His work has captivated critics and is in major institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the MOMA in New York, among others.
 
His sculptures conflate the grandeur of the metalworking tradition inherited from his father and grandfather with the restless concerns of the present. He manipulates materials with consummate skill and a spot-on combination of contingency and systematisation to produce pieces with an abstract appearance and a polished, shiny surface.
 
This work invites the beholder to undertake a subjective interpretation. It could well evoke a window open onto unity, inhabited by the rope knotted in the centre.